When asked about a certain food, the first thing that might come to mind is the taste, the look, or the texture. What does not come to mind is the ingredients that make the food for what it is. Today, many food items contain the ingredient high fructose corn syrup. While some people may cringe when they hear those words, others will explain the true meaning behind HFCS. Based on several articles, the truth of the matter is that high fructose corn syrup is just another replacement for sugar. There is no sufficient evidence proving that HFCS is worse than sugar, however that does not mean it is better for you either. HFCS is just as bad as sugar, meaning that there is no large effect on the body compared to sugar, but they both do have side effects …show more content…
For instance, in the “myth vs facts” article it claims that HFCS is the same as sugar when it comes to the number of calories, composition and absorption in the human body. In addition, when it comes to sweetness, sugar and HFCS taste the same, even though HFCS is actually less sweet than sugar. In terms of nutrition, high fructose corn syrup and sucrose, which is the main composition of sugar, are identical. The main difference between these two sweeteners is the way they are produced. HFCS comes from all natural products, such as corn however this corn started as cornstarch, which was chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose which is then transferred into fructose. But today, existing research indicates that corn DNA cannot be detected in measurable amounts in high fructose corn …show more content…
When picking up items at the grocery store, most people do not stop to read the ingredients. However if someone were to stop and look at each ingredient, they will see that HFCS comes up in unusual foods such as yogurt, ketchup, and even jelly. One would never think to group these food items together, however HFCS is such a diverse ingredient that it is can be used in so many products, same as sugar. Since HFCS is in so many foods, in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, we must moderate our sugar intake. While some may think this is impossible, it actually is possible but only if you track the amount of sugar you
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.
Glucose can be used directly by any cell in the body. It easily moves into the cell where it is directly burned for energy. No such luck with fructose. It must first be transported to the liver where a wide variety of things (none of them good) happen.
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...
High fructose corn syrup was invented by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957” (Production of HF...
With dental, digestive, and other corporal problems such as diabetes and obesity proliferating in the United States, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of unhealthy foods. Some ingredients that had previously been deemed harmless and have been in use for decades have recently been proved to be harmful and even potentially lethal. Thus, scientists, nutritionists, and food manufacturers are becoming more concerned about detrimental eating habits originating from the consumption of damaging ingredients that are copious in foods. A greater concern, however, is that these ingredients can still be found in a variety of food products and have yet to be withdrawn from grocery shelves. It is difficult to conceive that such toxic ingredients as high fructose corn syrup can still be found in a plethora of foods and drinks, even after multiple experiments that have proven that high fructose corn syrup is severely detrimental to the human body and the usage of HFCS, instead of diminishing, has dramatically augmented over the decades.
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.
Michael Pollan, a writer for New York Times and author of New York Times bestseller The Botany of Desire and named best book of the year by Borders, Amazon, and the American Booksellers Association, discusses some of these harmful effects along with many other facts in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan discusses how corn syrup has consumed our nation in chapter six of his book. He discusses how high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has snuck its way into the food of the American’s every meal. As restaurants line roads and food lines pantries, HFCS lurks in almost every meal. Marlene Bishop, editor of Chocolate, Fast Food, and Sweeteners: Consumption and Health, states: “In the last 35 years, high fructose corn syrup has replaced the use of sucrose by food manufactures in the US due to its steady price and availability (White, 2008)" (3). Because of the excess corn and low price to make HFCS, it continues to pour into the ingredients of the American’s diet.
Many food companies rely on sugar in there foods for better sells and money. Sugar in foods is what makes their products addictive and liked to consumers. Researchers believe that sugar can be more addictive than hardcore drugs. Body “Almost everyone’s heard
Many researchers at various Universities say that high fructose corn syrup is the same as sugar and there is no evidence to suggest that it is linked to an increase in obesity. In “Fat Land” by Greg Critser, he talks about America’s obesity problem, which included high fructose corn syrup as a topic of discussion. Critser states that when Coca-Cola switched from sugar
In order to understand the dangers of sugary drinks and foods, an explanation of their contents is necessary. These drinks and foods are composed of high carbohydrate-content, which is responsible for energy pr...
A developing body demonstrates that fructose offer ascent to liver poisonous quality and persistent ailments. Dr. Barclay said that “Sugar consumption had dropped 23% since 1980. Despite this, over the same period cases of overweight or obese people had doubled, and diabetes had at least tripled” (Norrie, 2012). A small amount of sugar is not a problem but it kills the immune system if you take more. “The average U.S. adult downs 22 teaspoons of sugar
With this concept in mind, I am going to analyze the Guardian online 2012 article “Why our food is making us fat,” by Jacques Peretti. The article mainly speaks about the rapid rise in obesity and the main contributor to it, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The article also points out some of the economic and political influences behind HFCS. HFCS is 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.
For years doctors have been saying that refined sugars are empty calories and consist of absolutely no vitamins or minerals that people need to survive. Dentists warn that sugary foods encourage tooth decay. Many people avoid sweet food because it can lead to obesity, heart problems, diabetes and cancer. These negative responses by people’s bodies are actually warnings. Maybe people eat sugar for other reasons than the sweet taste. The human body's negative responses to sugar may be a similar purpose to the reason kids feel pain when they are playing too roughly. People’s consumption of sweet foods might also serve as a sign of defiance against their bodies’ health limitations. What many people do not realize is that their tasty treats can affect their mind and emotions.
We are all familiar with sugar. It is sweet, delicious, and addictive; yet only a few of us know that it is deadly. When it comes to sugar, it seems like most people are in the mind frame knowing that it could be bad for our health, but only a few are really taking the moderate amounts. In fact, as a whole population, each and everyone of us are still eating about 500 extra calories per day from sugar. Yes, that seems like an exaggerated number judging from the tiny sweet crystals we sprinkle on our coffee, but it is not. Sugar is not only present in the form of sweets and flavourings, it is hidden in all the processed foods we eat. We have heard about the dangers of eating too much fat or salt, but we know very little about the harmful effects of consuming too much sugar. There still isn’t any warnings about sugar on our food labels, nor has there been any broadcasts on the serious damages it could do to our health. It has come to my concern during my research that few
Desserts can trigger severe problems. The highest risk developing health trouble is becoming overweight or obese. Especially young people, he or she would gain more pounds of what they take in than he or she will burn. According to Cameron Keady with TFK and TIME Reporting, American kids consume more than twenty teaspoons of sugar per day and adults take in about 50% more sugar onto this day than they did in the 1970s. Food deserts are in an urban area of which it is difficult to buy good quality fresh food. Living in a food desert area, it is more convenient to buy sweets. I say this because low-income people have a difficult time to find food that meets their dietary restrictions and sweets are always on the low-cost. This means it is more affordable for low-income people to buy sugary foods than fresh organic foods. HIH News in Health said, “About 15% of calories in the American adult diet comes from added sugars.” This is about twenty-two teaspoons of extra sugar a day. All these desserts will cause us numerous major consequence in the long-term. Many people are obese because of how they eat. Being overweight is dangerous and it can even result in deadly conditions. University of Utah used a mouse as experiment with sugar. Within the fifty-eight weeks of study, the mice ate 25% more sugar in its diet. They have concluded that the mice on the sugar diet would have died more likely