Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Negative impact of high fructose corn syrup on health
Negative impact of high fructose corn syrup on health
Negative impact of high fructose corn syrup on health
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The History and Advantages of High Fructose Corn Syrup
HFCS is a popular sweetener used in processed foods. It is composed of approximately 50% fructose and 50% glucose. It is made from corn starch with the use of enzymes to convert glucose to fructose. It has many advantages over cheap sugar, including, but not limited to, lower price, longer shelf life, low freezing point, and enhanced taste and texture. Corn refinement was first discovered circa 1860, and was soon followed by the development of corn syrup. Important advantages took place in the 1920’s with the use of enzymes, but it was not until the mid-1900’s when the crucial glucose isomerase enzyme was discovered. Industrial production of HFCS began in the 1970’s and today the industry is huge.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener used in many consumer products. Because it is as sweet as sugar, yet cheaper, HFCS is used in many processed food products. Like sugar, it has four calories per gram and has no added artificial or synthetic materials.
HFCS is made from corn refinement. First, starch must be separated from the rest of the corn. The starch is then treated with the enzyme glucose isomerase, which converts glucose into fructose. Fructose is an isomer of glucose; both have the empirical formula C6H12O6, but in different bonding. Glucose and fructose bonded together make sucrose, commonly known as table sugar. However, they are found separately in HFCS. Supporters of HFCS claim that it causes no more harm to the body than sugar does because both HFCS and sugar have fructose and glucose in approximately one to one ratios.
There are three main types of HFCS: HFCS-42, HFCS-55, HFCS-90. HFCS-42 is 42% fructose and 50% glucose. It is the least sweet of the ...
... middle of paper ...
... Shaft." Freedom Daily Apr. 1998. The Future of Freedom Foundation. 25 July 2006 . Path: James Bovard; FFF articles; The Great Sugar Shaft
"Corn Subsidies in United States." Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database. Nov. 2005. Environmental Working Group. 25 July 2006 . Path: Top Programs; Corn Subsidies.
HFCS Facts. 25 July 2006 .
"High Fructose Corn Syrup." Learn about Kosher. OU Kosher. 25 July 2006 .
"Vignette 4 Bioprocess Engineering for High-Volume Products: The Case of Corn and the Wet-Milling Industry." Putting Biotechnology to Work: Bioprocess Engineering. 1992. 27-29. The National Academic Press. 25 July 2006 .
Kit-kats, Hershey bars, Skittles, and Jolly Ranchers. The reason these sweets, and many other products, are so popular is because of their sugar content. It’s hard to imagine that something used in nearly every food today was practically nonexistent at one point. But this is true- sugar wasn’t introduced globally until the 1500’s. Following this introduction, the trade that sprung up would come to be one of the most successful and profitable in the world. The Sugar Trade’s success was driven by many factors. Out of those several factors, the ones that promised success were high consumer demand, willing investors with a lot of capital, and the usage of slave labor.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an artificial sweetener commonly used in the United States. As its name implies, this sweetener is derived from agricultural corn. All high fructose corn syrups are corn syrups whose fructose content has been increased via enzymatic processes and then mixed with pure corn syrup. There are several different formulations of high-fructose corn syrup. The product sold in the United States (HFCS #2) has the following composition: moisture, 29%; dry substance, 71% D.S.; dextrose, 50% D.S.; ash, 0.03 D.S.; and nitrogen, 0.002% D.S. The amounts of dextrose, fructose, and other saccharides may vary slightly in HFCS #3, but the analysis is fairly consistent. HFCS #1 hasn’t been commercially sold specifically for consumer consumption in the U.S. for many years. Instead, it is used by food producers in their products.
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.
Discuss the Relationship between sugar and slavery in the Early Modern Period. "No commodity on the face of the Earth has been wrested from the soil or the seas, from the skies or the bowels of the earth with such misery and human blood as sugar" ... (Anon) Sugar in its many forms is as old as the Earth itself. It is a sweet tasting thing for which humans have a natural desire. However there is more to sugar than its sweet taste, rather cane sugar has been shown historically to have generated a complex process of cultural change altering the lives of all those it has touched, both the people who grew the commodity and those for whom it was grown.
As a high calorie alimentation characterized by “perfect sweetness,” sugar was in high demand worldwide. The fourth document outlines the value of sugar in the workforce during the industrial revolution of the 1800s, helping workers with the transition from easy working hours on farms, to the taxing habits of
The rapid growth of sugar as a food has a long and intertwining history that originated in New Guinea. Following the production, consumption, and power that corresponds with sugar, one is able to see numerous causes and effects of the changes underway in the world between 1450 and 1750. The production of sugar in the Americas eventually led to not only the creation of the Atlantic Slave Trade, but also enhanced commerce. Consumption of sugar through rapid trade thoroughly helped to develop modern capitalism. The power that sugar generated dramatically changed the economic, social, and political fate of the nation as a whole.
High fructose corn syrup was invented by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957” (Production of HF...
High fructose corn syrup was first created in the 1970s by the Japanese as a form of sweetener. Combining 45% glucose and 55% fructose it was the sweetest substance yet and its cheap production, longer shelf-life, and versatility helped it over the next three decades emerge as the dominant sweetener on the market. However, despite its success, it has most recently been noted that effects of the substance are extremely detrimental to consumers, and its increased use directly correlates to the rise in obesity and diabetes among Americans.
There are three main types of simple sugars to look out for; Glucose, which is produced when, starches and carbs are broken down by the digestive system, this is one of the body’s preferred sources of energy. Next is Fructose, it’s common in fruit and also packaged treats you can find in a store. When too much is consumed it can in a sense flood your bloodstream and enter your liver which processes excess sugar into fat! This is of course leads to weight gain, especially around the abdomen, where your liver is located. Last is Sucrose, most-commonly known as your table sugar that most people add to their cereals or coffee. With that these three types of sugars are the most-commonly consumed ones throughout the states. Another way to recognize there are to think, anything that ends with ‘ose’ is considered sugar. An easy way to remember it by is to think ‘ose’ is gross!
"Welfare." Points Of View Charts & Graphs: Government Funding (2010): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
"The Sugar Act (Molasses Act)." The Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. .
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 possesses.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Works Cited Mish, F. C. (2003). The 'Standard Subsidy. Retrieved from http://www.lmerriam-webster.com/dictionary/subsidy Vogel, S. (2001, February 14). Farm income and costs: farms receiving government payments. Retrieved from: http://www.cds.org/item/ http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/farmincome/govtpaybyfarmtype.htm Farm bill resources -.
Center for Disease control and Prevention. (2014, July 7). Nutrition. Retrieved from Center for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.bam.gov/sub_foodnutrition/index.html
Maize also has uses beyond being used as a food source or being turned into oil. Maize’s main use is for food, but it can be used in creative ways. For example the popped kernels of maize, commonly referred to as ‘popcorn’ is seasoned and coated in different ways in order to make the ethnic foods of Vietnam and Peru. Corn is also used to create basic alternative medicines and herbal supplements using the corn silk, but this use is not often capitalized on. The starches from maize are a major source of material for products like plastics, fabrics, and adhesives. Also a by-product from the maize ‘wet milling’ process called ‘corn step liquor’ is of a major use to the biochemical industry because it is a perfect culture to grow many kinds of m...