David Saldivar
23 March 2014
Biology 101 MWF 11 am
Jill Parsell
High Fructose Corn Syrup vs “Regular” Sugar
High Fructose Corn Syrup is found in a lot of the foods and drinks we consume. It is something that is consumed on a regular basis by not only Americans but by plenty of others across the world and sometimes we might not even note the difference between it and “real” sugar. HFCS comes from a type of corn known as “Dent” corn, dent corn is transformed into cornstarch by being cleaned, soaked, ground, milled, and dried corn starch is then converted into a liquid state in a process known as hydrolysis (Sloan, 2013). Once in a liquid state, HFCS is then used to not only add a sweet flavor to drinks and food but it also can be used as a form of coloring to the consumables. What you would label as “regular” sugar is essentially the same the same thing as HFCS when you break them down chemically, the only difference between the two is that their chemical components are placed in different order (Beil, 2013).
At first glance, the graph may seem to show that there is correlation between HFCS intake and the percentage of obesity. It is important to remember that there are possibly several other factors out there that could also be causing the obesity percentage to go up. Factors such as our technological advancements and environmental influences, which is leading to more and more people becoming less active could also be a reasonable possibility for the increase in obesity (NHLBI, 2012). However, it is also important to note the increase in beverage size in fast food restaurants, as the increase in beverage size goes up so does our intake of HFCS and also that many Americans are against having their drink size restricted (Brown, 20...
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...r you so it would be for the best if you approach other foods you consume with a similar approach as well as making sure you’re maintaining an active lifestyle
Work Cited
Beil, Laura. 16 May 2013. Sweet Confusion: Does High Fructose Corn Syrup deserve such a bad rap?. Retrieved From https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sweet-confusion
Brown, Alyssa. 26 June 2013. Americans Reject Size Limit on Soft Drinks in Restaurants. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/163238/americans-reject-size-limit-soft- drinks-restaurants.aspx
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 13 July 2012 What Causes Overweight and Obesity?. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/causes.html
Sloan, Carol. 18 July 2013. The History of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Retrieved from http://sweetsurprise.com/2013/07/18/blog/The-History-of-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup
According to The World Health Organization, “Obesity is the imbalance between declining energy expenditure due to physical inactivity and high energy in the diet (excess calories whether from sugar, starches or fat) …. Increasing physical activity, in addition to reducing intakes of food high in fat and foods and drinks high in sugars, can prevent unhealthy weight gain” (Who). The World Health Organization has recognized that soda and other sugary drinks a...
Forristal, Linda. “The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup.” Westonaprice.org. Ed. Linda Forristal. 2003. 24 July 2008. .
Lustig, Robert, Laura Schmidt, and Claire Brindis. “The Toxic Truth About Sugar.” The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition. Ed. Thomas Cooley. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 284-289. Print.
Fructose is having a negative impact on the modern diet, but a broader lesson than “fructose is the problem” will lead to better results. Looking back to America before Nixon signed the farm bill provides guidance.
Studies have linked obesity to many things from ear infections, to pollution, to air-conditioning, to socializing with obese people. The reason Americans are obese is because of the increasing luxury available to them. Obesity is a rising problem in the United States, and with all the privileges given to its citizens, the country has become increasingly lazy. With portion sizes rising and physical activity decreasing, it is easy to see how obesity rates have skyrocketed.
Sanda, Bill. "The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup." Weston A. Price Foundation. The Western A. Price Foundation. 30 Jul 2006 .
High fructose corn syrup was invented by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957” (Production of HF...
"Nutrition and Healthy Eating." Artificial Sweeteners and Other Sugar Substitutes. Mayo Clinic, 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
[4] National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and National Cancer Institute. “Larger Portion Sizes Contribute to U.S. Obesity Problem.” News & Events, NHLBI, NIH. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
The article, Soda Consumption Does Not Equal Obesity, states that soda is not the only reason people are obese. When people are more active, they are less likely to have an obesity-related illness. Being active plays an important role because people are constantly burning fat, which makes it less likely for them to be overweight or obese. Economists from Emory University declare that soft drinks do not have a big impact on weight. The reason is that when untaxed, soft drinks only represent 7% of a soda drinker’s calorie intake.
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
HFCS is being used for almost every food product in the food industry. However, if we look at HFCS from a limited point of view we just see it as something present in our food and not the health factors behind it. HFCS can be habit forming since it is a sweet replacement for sugar and in his article Peretti mentions that David Kessler said “sugar, through its metabolisation by the gut and hence the brain, is extremely addictive, just like cigarettes or alcohol.” People enjoy the taste and because of this they consume large quantities, which lead to health factors such as: obesity, diabetes, heart problems, infertility, liver problems, and so on. Our limited perspective may cause us to lose sight of how much of a risk HFCS possess. In my case I use to think that my family gained significant amount of weight only through fatty foods and...
One out of every three Americans is obese, and the majority of these obese people in the United States have eaten regularly at fast food restaurants. As the obesity rate increases, the number of fast food restaurants goes up as well. Although it is not certain, many believe that obesity in the United States is correlated to eating fast food. Since the United States has the highest obesity rate out of any country, it is important for Americans to monitor the fast food industry that may be causing obesity. With the pressure to get things done in a timely manner, fast food has become a big necessity.
Corn is the basis for almost everything that is massed produced. It is what the animals are fed, it is what vegetables are coated with to become shiny, and it is put into processed foods for flavor and preservatives. While this sounds like you are eating a lot of corn, it is not the corn that you would think of. The corn that is in most of what we eat is not the same corn as you would have as corn on the cob. The corn that is in processed food is called Zea mays. This corn has become the stable crop for the American diet. It is placed in almost everything that week eat and it is hard to escape. They have turned it into a sugar known as high fructose corn syrup that is placed in almost every processed food in America. This includes all desserts and sweets, but also lots of other things like breads, cheeses, and soups. While many people would not think about putting sugar in soup or cheese factories do because High Fructose Corn Syrup is a great preservative even if it is adding large amounts of sugar into our
beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition