Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup Essay

The past fifty years has seen a spike in the consumption of sugar, that number totaling a tripling increase. However, sugar is not the only risk factor here, alcohol and tobacco can also be attributed with the spike, albeit not as prevalent as sugar. The biggest question that Lustig et al. poses to its’ readers is this: “What aspects of the Western diet should be the focus of intervention”? (par. 3) The current USDA has been deemed “boogeymen” of diets, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Lustig et al. all believe that our attention should be turned towards “added sugar”, which is a sweetener that has fructose in it. Perhaps the biggest controversy from the past fifty years has been none other than a severe culprit that experts know as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.

We eat every day, rarely thinking about what’s going into our bodies. Take soda, for example, when was the last time you read the label before taking a sip? For me, it is never. One of the first ingredients listed on the can is HFCS or high fructose corn syrup. This ingredient is a secret additive to many products in today's market. High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the cheapest to make and hardest to get rid of in the body. Since its introduction to food products in the 70's it has slowly been added to most foods, even ketchup.

Abstract: The use of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in various food and drink products has drastically affected the American people in the last three decades. Dominating 55% of the sweetener market because of its industrial benefits, HFCS’s increased use has caused dramatic effects in its consumers, including upsetting normal hormonal functions, destroying vital organs, nerves, and throwing off the body’s mineral balance. As the use of HFCS increased, the rates of obesity, diabetes, and related health problems have escalated, resulting in a nationwide epidemic.

High-fructose corn syrup is a commonly used artificial sweetener in foods. High-fructose corn syrup is a hydrolyzed version of ordinary corn syrup, which is produced via a steeping process. It is so widely used because it is both economically favorable and it helps to preserve food for extended periods of time. However, the drawbacks of high-fructose corn syrup include issues like potential obesity, diabetes, loss of liver function, malnutrition, and cancer. The fact that the producers of high-fructose corn syrup can deceive people that HFCS is harmless makes matters worse.

The jig is up. It's no secret that high fructose corn syrup is detrimental to your health. Unless you have been under a rock for the last few years you have seen a massive media campaign done by a group called (C.R.A.) Corn Refiners Association, to repair the damaged public image of high fructose corn syrup (H.F.C.S.).

"Crystalline fructose" is an especially deadly form of HFCS. It has a significantly higher percentage of fructose in addition to dangerous chemicals like arsenic and chlorine and metals such as lead. Almost all processed foods contain high fructose corn syrup or some version of it. You will find it in soft drinks and fruit juice. But it is also in breakfast cereals, mayonnaise, peanut butter and jellies, ketchup, yogurt, cookies, candy, mustard, canned soup, potato chips, pancake syrup, beer, and the list goes

I hope all is well with you. Thank you for asking my opinion about high fructose corn syrup. Rest assure I do not want you to be concerned, I will try to explain it as much as I can. Let me start by explaining to you what high fructose syrup means in comparison to regular sugar. HFCS is composed of a mix of glucose and fructose (Beil). This same chemical components are also found in “regular” table sugar. Table sugar also has another name called sucrose. It has a linear ring structure with three to seven carbon atoms (Phelan 854). To make it easier on you to understand, we eat sugar it breaks down in our stomach as glucose and fructose (Busken 112-113). If the breakdown of HFCS and sugar is compared you will find that HFCS gives the better opportunity of using in food (Busken 112-113). The digestion of sugar is 50/50, while the breakdown of HFCS is 42% fructose and 55% glucose (Busken 112-113). The remaining 3% are chains of saccharides (Busken 112-113).

The food culture that we have are practices, beliefs, and ways we use to make food and consume it. Furthermore it is how we understand it as a whole and how it can shape us. Certain foods all around us can change people individually or as a group, the ability to express ourselves with food is endless.Some people may love the food for flavor , some may love to take pictures of the food and some people may just eat it because of their religion. People in the food culture can express whatever they want with food in many other ways, for example financial status, power,creativity, etc. It is amazing what people can do when it come to this,but what people do not know are its dangers. Sometimes people only see the good part behind the food and are oblivious to what it really is. The audience can maybe overlook how the food was made and in many ways overlook what is good for them and what is not. Many of the foods nowadays are made in labs and in so many different ways we can not think of. A certified dietitian named Katherine Zeratsky says “High-fructose corn syrup — can contribute unwanted calories that are linked to health problems, such as weight gain, type 2 diabetes, etc”. All of these health problems dealing with the chemical high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This product is in sodas, Fruit drinks, Syrups, and even more. We consume this everyday and it is cheaper to make it that real sugar and it apparently taste better.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a popular sweetener used that hides in anything from ketchup, yogurts, and a variety of beverages. High fructose corn syrup unlike the other sweeteners provides calories. High fructose corn syrup is made from glucose that is initially from corn. It is widely popular to manufacturers because of it equality in sweetness to table sugar, it blends well with foods, has a good shelf life, and is less expensive. There are two main types of high fructose corn syrup. The first one is HFCS-55, this is popularly found mostly in sodas and contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose. The second on is HFCS-42, widely found in desserts, canned fruit syrups, and baked goods (Lakhan 5) . It contains 42% fructose and 58% glucose. Normal sugar as well contains fructose and glucose. It is made of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. And both High fructose corn syrup and sugar contain 4 calories per gram. So, what is the difference? In normal sugar (sucrose) the bond between fructose and glucose are chemically bonded and the body needs to digest sucrose to break the chemical bond before the body can absorb the fructose and glucose into the bloodstream. High fructose corn syrup on the other hand are just blended together which concludes that it does not need to be digested before it goes through the metabolic system and is absorbed into the bloodstream. HFCS became popular in the food industry in the late 1970s, right when obesity increased in many Americans.

Due to the cheap production of high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s, it became widespread and by 1985 made up about 35% of sweeteners in food supply. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) leads to overproduction of trans-fat cells in the body, causing overweight and obese children to become obese in adulthood (Morgan, 2013). With this rise in obesity due to high fructose corn syrup, adults are more likely to be at risk of heart disease, diabetes and other diseases. The popularity of HFCS has contributed to the rise of obesity in America, making trans-fat and HFCS the leading cause.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is known to be a sweetener derived from corm, which comes in two forms HFCS-42 and HFCS-55. This indicates it is made up of either fifty-five percent or forty-two percent fructose and the remaining sugars are typically glucose. HFCS is considered to be identical to table sugar, which is made up of fifty percent of fructose and fifty percent glucose. Fructose being a simple form of sugar can be found in foods such as honey and fruits. Some of the pros of HFCS include: it is composed from corn that is a natural grain and therefore a natural sweetener; it does not contain any artificial, synthetic contents, or colored additives; and it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s long-standing policy as it is recognized as being a “natural” substance (“About High Fructose Corn Syrup,” 2016).

Health concerns have been raised about high fructose corn syrup, which allege contribution to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Critics of the extensive use of HFCS in food sweetening argue that the highly processed substance is more harmful to humans than regular sugar, contributing to weight gain by affecting normal appetite functions and that in some foods HFCS may be a source of mercury a known neurotoxin. Yeah, a NEUROTOXIN!

Nutrition has value beyond school beyond school in everyone's lives, I know this because in the topic dehydration in point one it is stating that your ability to perform academically and physically will improve if you are well hydrated were as if you are dehydrated then it is harder to perform well in both ways. Nutrition is also valuable beyond school because eating healthy things such as fruits a vegetables can improve your overall health such as your weight blood system and just regular energy for everyday life. I know all of this information from because myself I remember doing a project about it in 6th grade and from my own experiences. On another note about High Fructose Corn syrup or (HFCS) is very bad for you body from what I learned in the topic High Fructose Corn syrup, and from all of the points it states

Fructose can harm your body in many ways. Fructose is normally in with the sugary stuff you eat. After it is digested, it goes to the liver. Once it gets to the liver, it wont stop giving the fructose to the liver. Finally, the liver needs to start storing the fructose. So it ends up storing it as fat in the liver. As a result, there is more fat in the bloodstream. More fat in the bloodstream can lead to obesity. Fructose is very bad for your

Advertisement and commercial industries portray table sugar, and other artificial sweeteners as fuel needed by the body. Though body and body cells need sugar as fuel source. The body mechanism is just like the case of engine, there are bad fuels which can destroy engine. Table sugar is just a bad fuel for the body. Several research studies have arraigned sugar first culprit for the epidemics of complicated health problems such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer. Worst of it, several research now ranking sugar as addictive substance as drugs.