Healthy Foods That Cause Belly Fat Essay

One reason is that it can prevent obesity. In “should the government regulate what we eat and drink” Bert Glass explains how “advocates that support the ban on trans fat are quick to point out the negative health effects of consuming food prepared with the banned item. He also states that, “trans fats can raise our level of “bad” cholesterol while also lowering our “good” cholesterol levels, both of which contribute to heart disease. In the text Bert gives an example of what trans fat can do and how it can affect our body. He also talks about how trans fat can contribute to heart disease which is a disease nobody wants to get.

The Pro Side’s Argument: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) contributes to the increased body weight of Americans as a whole.

Thus by consuming products with HFCS the body neglects to regulate body weight resulting in most often a higher caloric intake and eventually in prolonged weight gain. The lack of insulin and the unbalance of hormones essentially trick our bodies into wanting to eat more, while at the same time storing more fat.

H.F.C.S. has replaced regular table sugar, honey, and similar sweeteners or anything similar at an alarmingly high rate. Prolonged consumption of H.F.C.S. as we are now learning can cause long-term damage to the body.

The process of creating trans fat originated from the 1890s in France when chemist Paul Sabatier discovered that metal catalysts could precipitate hydrogenic reactions. This led to German chemist Wilhelm Normanns’ 1901 experimentation with hydrogenation catalysts that successfully led to the hydrogenation of liquid fat which produced semi solid fat that is now known as trans-fat. This process was adopted by many food manufacturers because of its ability to stabilize the shelf life of products it is in. With the production and use of trans fat comes some serious health risks. In the 1950s it was found that there is a clear connection between the intake of saturated fats and heart disease. After this was found there was some opposing studies that proved fats were healthy. By the 1980s it was established that a high intake of saturated fat led to a higher risk for heart problems. Because of this trans fats were used to replace saturated fats, but it was later found that trans fat held a higher risk for heart problems than saturated fats did (“Trans Fat”). Once people discovered this, a demand for healthy alternatives began and is still prevalent today.

With more intake, a person is susceptible to gain weight, and with less intake, susceptible to lose weight over a given period of time. This is known as the Calorie-in Calorie-out effect. The source of the calorie, however, determines whether it is healthy for the body or not. The same amount of calorie coming from oats and chips are not comparable at all. In the USA, most people rely on processed and fast food, rich in artificial preservatives, Trans fat and sodium content. Fast foods, famous for their low price, large portion and taste are responsible for overeating and weight gain too (Food and Diet). With these foods, we get much more sodium, fat and cholesterol than required by our body, resulting in chronic heart disease, high cholesterol level in blood and gradual accumulation of fat leading to obesity. In addition to that, widespread use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as an artificial sweetener in soft drinks, beverages and desserts is proved to have been related with high-calorie intake and increment in obesity, as mentioned by an article in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Bray).

Most all sodas or soft drinks consist of the basic, carbonated water, sugar, and caffeine. Colas, in particular, were originally just a mixture of extracts of the coca leaf and the cola nut blended with sugar water (1). Though, nowadays, the natural sugars that were originally used, have been replaced by high fructose corn syrup. According to ConsumerReports.org,in 2009 the average american consumed approximately 35.7 pounds of high fructose corn syrup showing the great prevalence of this overused, unhealthy ingredient (3). Though, why would so many producers put an ingredient so detrimental to the consumer’s health in their products? High fructose corn syrup is not only cheaper than organic sugars, but it is also sweeter meaning much less

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.

In the human body, the metabolic system is really complicated. When HFCS affects the metabolic system, it causes metabolic syndromes. As researcher Leon mentions in their research, consumption of HFCS is related to the metabolic syndrome, which includes a group of common diseases like obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension (Leon et al. 105). A number of people who have metabolic syndrome are not low. According to a data of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, almost 34 percent of people have the signal of metabolic syndrome in USA (Shaheen et al. 1). In past 30 years, people have consumed HFCS, so nowadays obesity becomes an epidemic. According to the journal “Potential Health Risks From Beverages Containing Fructose Found in Sugar or High-fructose Corn Syrup”, M.D Bray says that the increase of HFCS consumption is parallel to the increase obesity epidemic and metabolic syndrome (Bray 1). In the words of another researcher Shaheen, obesity nowadays is a universal health problem. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of adult are obese in the USA and Europe (Shaheen et al. 1). Therefore, using HFCS a lot can cause metabolic syndrome, which lead to

Did you know that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) accounts for over half of the artificial sweeteners used in the United States today? Although it is loved by big food companies due to its extended shelf life and cheap production, is it the healthiest option for the consumer? This is a widespread question that has been asked in the United States since the invention of HFCS in the 1960s. This artificial sweetener is rumored to increase one's chances of obesity, high cholesterol, etc. Due to the health risks linked to HFCS it is adamant that people in the United States greatly reduce the intake of this sweetener. This can be accomplished with three solutions, being, by simply raising general awareness about the health risks associated with HFCS, having stricter regulations on artificial sweeteners, or by lowering the tariffs on imported natural sugar.

Obesity is contributed by the consumption of more calories than are expended as well as type II diabetes, which are linked to obesity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture data indicates that consumption of HFCS has been decreasing, while obesity and diabetes are rising. Other studies indicate that many other parts of the world that do not have access to HFCS and are still seeing a rise in obesity (“About High Fructose Corn Syrup,” 2016).

High fructose corn syrup is a cheap alternative to normal cane sugar and acts as a food preservative, which is one of the reasons food manufacturers use it. It’s used in many foods such as yogurt, cereal, bread, drinks, and even condiments. The Corn Refiners Association has in the past claimed that high fructose corn syrup is natural. Research has found links between high fructose corn and obesity, the rates of child obesity has quadrupled over the past forty years. Child obesity then leads to obese adults with an astounding risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, nerve disease, and cancer.

Another thing about HFCS people would miss were it not for the Sociological Imagination is the political and economic influences it carries. Those that profit from HFCS fight for it to remain in use and in his article Peretti points out that “there was a huge financial gain to be made by fingering fat, not sugar, as the culprit of heart disease.” The companies that gain income from HFCS try to get any bad publicity away from it, because they look at their profit margins and not at the people it affects and how it affects them. People with low income often resort to cheaper foods that tend to have larger quantities of HFCS in them. I am one such person because I try to get a bargain when I can, and often times the products I bought had large quantities of HFCS.

As Americans we are certainly used to opening our kitchen cabinets and having it be filled with endless food choices. To say the least, we are certainly blessed as a country to be able to have a wide variety. Although the choices are endless, unlike other countries, we are unsure of the additives that are being put into our foods. One specific food additive that is constantly seen in our labels is High Fructose Corn Syrup. High Fructose Corn Syrup can be defined as a cheap sweetener that is made from corn starch in which it is processed by glucose isomerase. This specific additive is currently apart of the top eleven most controversial food additives. High Fructose Corn Syrup, is being blamed for the obesity epidemic in the United States of America. I am here to prove through research and personal findings, that this is an additive that we most avoid.