High Fructose Corn Syrup: Case Study

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.

Farmers need their cows to be tremendously obese because the cows would produce more meat for the farmers to sell. Therefore, the meat that is sold at the supermarket is not one hundred percent natural. Another manufactured substance is sugar also referred to as high-fructose corn syrup. Man has made a whole new variation of sugar that is cheaper to produce but also completely artificial. “Using a glucose isomerase, the starch in corn can be efficiently converted to glucose and then to various amounts of fructose. The hydrolysis of sucrose produces a 50:50 molar mixture of fructose and glucose. The development of these inexpensive, sweet corn- based syrups made it profitable to replace sucrose (sugar) and simple sugars with HFCS in our diet, and they now represent 40% of all added caloric sweeteners. (Bray, Nielsen, and Popkin)” The United States farmer produces approximately twelve billion bushels of corn every year, but only exports about twenty percent of the total, and the rest is made into products, such as high-fructose corn syrup. All of the processed food is extremely bad for our health, but since it is the cheapest in the supermarket it would take a lot to have a healthier diet.

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.

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an inexpensive syrup created by changing about half of the particles comprising corn starch into fructose. Due to the cheapness of HFCS it has replaced natural sugars in most of the food consumed in America. Resulting in HFCS being found in just about all processed foods made today. Consuming any kind of sweetener has shown to greatly increase the chances of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome (Zeratsky, 2015). Since the invention of HFCS American obesity rates went from fifteen percent of the population to around one third of the population suggesting a strong

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 (HFCS) is an artificial sweetener commonly used in the United States. As its name implies, this

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.).

High fructose corn syrup is a by-product derived from corn and a sweetener used in a plethora of food items, such as beverages and processed food. High fructose corn syrup differs than table sugar in composition: high fructose corn syrup is made of either 55% of fructose and 45% glucose, or 58% fructose and 42% glucose, while white table sugar is composed of 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Although there is a small difference between the compositions, the body metabolizes high fructose corn syrup differently than table sugar, which contributes to a myriad of health problems such as obesity, liver scarring, and diabetes. Therefore, high fructose corn syrup is detrimental to our health and can cause severe damage to our bodies.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the main sweetener in most juices and sodas that are commercially available today. It is also a main if not the main ingredient in almost all processed food. What exactly is this substance and why is it bad for you? The sugar that is found in high fructose corn syrup is derived from corn most of which is genetically modified, is extremely sweet, seventy five percent sweeter than sugar, and far cheaper to produce than sugar from sugar cane. Prior to the 1970s most of the sugar that was used was derived from sugar cane. Fructose is a nutritionally dead substance and even worse, it leeches nutrients from the body.

Confusions and debate over sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which leads into a large debatable topic. With food and bread products that HFCS has found its way into. Most are unaware of this product as processed sugar. HFCS is an altered sweetened product. Natural sugar is an entirely unprocessed ingredient, for example, milk, and vegetables. A standout between the most widely known everyday sugars is fructose, which is found in natural fruit product (“Add”). To make corn syrup, first will blend the corn starch with water and then include a catalyst, which breaks down into a sweeter sugar substance that is delivered by a bacterium that separates the starch into shorter chains

This research essay will investigate the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup. The liver is effected because the fructose—as it is being metabolized deposits fatty acids into the liver, it also develops cirrhosis, which has the same effect normally seen in alcoholics. High Fructose Corn Syrup increases cholesterol which blocks the inner walls of the arteries and may be fatal if not treated. High Fructose Corn Syrup was believed to be beneficial to diabetics, but studies show the they may actually promote more diseases. Obesity is a major problem, as High Fructose Corn Syrup does not release leptin—which is what signals the brain to stop eating, so society is prone to over consumption. It also alters the heart's use of other

Obesity and its subsequent ailments are regarded as the leading cause(s) of death in the United States and many other parts of the world. As such, much deserved attention and controversy has been brought worldwide. Many people place blame for this relatively recent epidemic on the shoulders of high-fructose corn syrup, an artificial sweetener whose use has increased for many years alongside the rates of childhood and adult obesity. While they are not entirely incorrect in assuming a widespread increase in added sugars would result in more calories per product, more calories consumed, and therefore more calories stored in bodily tissue, high-fructose corn syrup alone is not solely to blame for this phenomenon.

Soon afterward, a patent on this process was issued to Marshall in 1960. In the same year, Tsumura and Sato reported the isolation of a specific soil organism that would produce an enzyme that converted glucose to fructose (Inglett, 88). By converting large amounts of glucose into fructose, corn syrup was promoted to high fructose corn syrup, abbreviated as HFCS, one of the sweetest and most widely used sweeteners available.

"HFCS Consumption - Corn Refiners Association." Corn Refiners Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. http://corn.org/publications/statistics/hfcs-consumption/

High fructose corn syrup has taken over the modern American diet in a detrimental way. High fructose corn syrup is used all over the world, as a sweetener because it is the easiest to work with plus the materials to make it is cheap. In America, high fructose corn syrup has replaced table sugar in the food making industry because of the subsidies of corn, which makes high fructose corn syrup the cheapest.