Top 10 Health Dangers of High
Fructose Corn Syrup
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September 2, 2010
By Louise Carr, Contributing Columnist
High fructose corn syrup is everywhere in our food supply. It's
one of the most common sweeteners in America. It's in corn
chips, sodas, ketchups and other condiments, breads, even
meats. And, perhaps not coincidentally, as the levels of high
fructose corn syrup have risen, so too have rates of obesity,
diabetes and metabolic syndrome. What re the health dangers
of high fructose corn syrup? Just what are we doing to our
bodies when we pull open that can of soda? When we pour
sugary pre-packaged sauces over our food or reach for the
candy? What exactly is the real danger and where is it lurking
in the ingredients list?
Supersize Me with Fructose
America has a huge sweet tooth. We are a sugar-laden nation.
And what’s the most convenient sugar-fix, one that we’re
increasingly reaching for? Soft drinks - no longer luxury items
for the table at Christmas and Thanksgiving. They’re
everywhere, and they’re full of fructose.
Fructose, particularly in soft drinks, consumption has risen
dramatically since the 70s. And according to abundant recent
research, during this time we’ve also got much fatter. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that in 1970
around 15 percent of the U.S. population met the definition for
obesity. Today nearly 1/3 of American adults are obese. Some
scientists say we are consuming more calories and sugar in
general and that is causing the problems. But others blame a
specific culprit: high fructose corn syrup.
What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?
High fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and preservative made
by changing the glucose in cornstarch into fructose, another
form of sugar. The result is a super-sweet mixture of glucose
and fructose. High fructose corn syrup is used in soft drinks
and sodas instead of glucose.
And it’s not just soft drinks. High fructose corn syrup also
sweetens the taste of breads, cereals, yoghurts, soups,
processed foods, sauces and condiments. In fact, the majority
of cans and packets you find on your store cupboard shelves
are made with high fructose corn syrup.
High fructose corn syrup is popular with manufacturers
because it is cheap. As a sugar it is sweeter than glucose and it
is easier to blend into drinks. According to statistics published
in 2004 research by Louisiana State University and the
University of North Carolina, high fructose corn syrup
represented 40 percent of caloric sweeteners added to foods
and beverages. It is now the sole sweetener used in bestselling
soft drinks in the United States
How Much Are We Eating?
According to Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
estimates, the average American eats around 12 teaspoons of
high fructose corn syrup every day. Teenagers, who are known
for drinking more soda, are perhaps even eating 80 percent
more than this. High fructose corn syrup has been on the
market since the early 70s. Since then, the consumption of high
fructose corn syrup in America has increased by over 1,000
percent according to an article in the April 2004 issue of the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Is our high consumption
of high fructose corn syrup storing up a whole heap of
problems for our health?
Top 10 Health Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup
1. High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Diabetes
Many scientists have pointed at high fructose corn syrup as a
culprit behind the spike in rates of diabetes. Diabetes is a
serious health problem in the U.S. and its rise has mirrored our
taste for high fructose corn syrup sweetened drinks and food.
According to the University of Florida College of Medicine,
fructose is the most dangerous of the sugars we eat. Why? Too
much fructose causes uric acid levels to spike. This can block
the ability of insulin to regulate how body cells use and store
sugar, leading to obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2
diabetes.
A 2007 study from the Rutgers University in New Brunswick
linked drinks containing high fructose corn syrup to the
development of diabetes, particularly in children. The
laboratory study showed that high fructose corn syrup-
sweetened drinks had high levels of compounds called reactive
carbonyls.
Reactive carbonyls have the potential to trigger cell and tissue
damage that can cause diabetes or make diabetes worse.
Reactive carbonyls are not found in table sugar, where fructose
and glucose components are chemically stable. The researchers
are looking at ways in which tea components added to soft
drinks can limit the levels of reactive carbonyls.
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup Is Especially Good At Fattening
You Up
Want to gain weight? High fructose corn syrup is especially
good at helping up put on the pounds. Even better than table
sugar.
Soft drinks and processed foods made with high fructose corn
syrup and other sugars are high in calories and low in
nutritional value. Simply put, if you consume a lot of them you
will gain weight. However, recent studies have shown that high
fructose corn syrup causes significantly greater weight gain
than regular table sugar.
Why is high fructose corn syrup so bad for your waistline?
A 2010 study from Princeton University found rats with access
to high fructose corn syrup gained more weight than those
with access to table sugar, although their calorie intake
remained the same.
“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no
different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain
and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't
true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said professor
Bart Hoebel of Princeton University. “When rats are drinking
high fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop,
they’re becoming obese - every single one, across the board.
Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they
don't all gain extra weight.”
That’s not all. In addition to weight gain, the rats put on a lot
of body fat, particularly around the abdomen, and blood fats
called triglycerides increased. Male rats in particular got
significantly bigger. A 2010 study from The Endocrine Society
found that when fructose is present as children's fat cells
mature, it results in more of these cells maturing into fat cells
found in belly fat.
Belly fat cells are less able to respond to insulin. Abdominal
obesity is linked with a raised risk of heart disease and Type 2
diabetes. Read more here about the importance of your waist
size in predicting your risk for disease and even death.
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup Raises Your High Blood Pressure
Eating foods with high fructose corn syrup is one of the worst
things you can do to your blood pressure.
Recent research has indicated that people who eat a diet high
in fructose, in the form of added sugar, are at increased risk of
developing high blood pressure. A 2009 study from the
University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center analyzed
data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(2003-2006) and looked at 4,528 U.S. adults with no prior
history of hypertension.
Researchers found people eating 74 grams or more of fructose
each day – the equivalent to 2.5 soft drinks – had a 26 percent,
30 percent, and 77 percent higher risk for blood pressure
levels of 135/85, 140/90, and 160/100 mmHg, respectively.
Your blood pressure should be around or below 120/80
mmHg. “These results indicate that high fructose intake in the
form of added sugars is significantly and independently
associated with higher blood pressure levels in the U.S. adult
population with no previous history of hypertension," the
researchers reported.
4. High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to High Triglycerides
Fructose is different from glucose because it is processed
almost solely by the liver. Eating high fructose corn syrup
produces an excessive amount of triglycerides, a type of fat
which can get into your bloodstream.
Triglycerides can help harden your arteries or thicken your
artery walls. Both dangerous conditions increase your risk of
stroke and heart disease.
A 2009 study from the Monell Center showed that obese
people who drank high fructose corn syrup-sweetened drinks
with their meals experienced an almost 200% increase in
triglycerides following eating.
The 17 obese men and women in the study were given identical
meals but different drinks. Some were sweetened with glucose
and some with fructose. Researchers found the total amount of
triglycerides in the blood over a 24-hour period was almost
200 percent higher after drinking high fructose corn syrup-
sweetened sodas and soft drinks.
5. High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Damage Your Liver
High fructose corn syrup is not just bad for the heart and the
waistline. Recent studies show it can also damage the liver.
2010 research from the Duke University Medical Center found
increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was
associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among people
with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Scientists found only 19% of adults with non-alcoholic fatty
liver disease drank no high fructose corn syrup-enriched
drinks. 52 percent of people who suffered from non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease drank between one and six sodas a week and
29 percent consumed fructose-containing drinks on a daily
basis.
6. Gout
Gout is a painful disease most commonly found in older men,
caused by excess uric acid in the blood which leads to uric acid
crystals forming around the joints.
Levels of gout have shot up in the U.S. in the last few decades
and researchers believe it is strongly associated with
consumption of high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks.
A 2008 study published by the British Medical Journal followed
over 46,000 men aged 40 years and over with no history of
gout who completed regular questionnaires on their intake of
more than 130 foods and drinks over a period of 12 years.
During the follow up, scientists discovered 755 newly
diagnosed cases of gout. The risk of gout increased along with
an increase in high fructose corn syrup-sweetened drinks. The
risk was 85 percent higher for men who drank more than two
servings a day compared to those who consumed less than one
drink a month. Diet soft drinks, without high fructose corn
syrup, were not associated with the risk of gout.
7. Mercury Levels
Could high fructose corn syrup be poisoning our bodies with
metals? Recent research suggests so.
Mercury gets into high fructose corn syrup because caustic
soda, which is used to separate the cornstarch from the kernel,
contains traces of mercury.
Two studies, one published in the journal Environmental Health
and the other by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy,
tested branded food products containing high fructose corn
syrup and found much of the food contained detectable levels
of mercury.
In the 2005 Environmental Health study researchers found
mercury in nearly 50 percent of samples of commercial high
fructose corn syrup. In the 2009 Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy study, scientists sent 55 branded foods and drinks
where high fructose corn syrup was the first or second highest
ingredient to a commercial laboratory for testing. Nearly one
third of the products contained trace levels of mercury.
Mercury gets into high fructose corn syrup because caustic
soda, which is used to separate the cornstarch from the kernel,
contains traces of mercury.
8. Kidney Disease
Watch out for your kidneys if you're drinking sodas. A 2009
study from Loyola University Health System found that women
who drink large amounts of soft drinks are at an almost 100%
greater risk for developing early kidney disease.
The study showed women who drink two or more cans of soda
each day are nearly twice as likely to show early signs of kidney
disease.
This finding doesn’t seem to apply to men, however. Or to
people who drink diet soda, which contains no high fructose
corn syrup. Researchers looked at data from a representative
sample of 9,358 U.S. adults in the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey.
The women affected were more likely to show signs of
albuminuria, a sensitive marker for early kidney damage.
Researchers decide that additional studies are needed to see if
high fructose corn syrup is the direct culprit in the higher risk
of early kidney disease or if other lifestyle factors influence the
outcome.
9. Memory Impairment
A 2009 study from the Georgia State University discovered that
diets rich in high fructose corn syrup impaired the spatial
memory of adult rats. Researchers put a group of rats on a diet
where fructose represented 60 percent of the total calories
they ate during the day.
Researchers tested the rats by putting them in a pool of water
and recording their ability to learn to find a submerged
platform to get out. The rats returned to the pool two days
later with no platform present to see if they could remember its
location. “What we discovered is that the fructose diet doesn't
affect their ability to learn,” researchers noted. “But they can't
seem to remember as well where the platform was when you
take it away. They swam more randomly than rats fed a control
diet.”
10. Pancreatic Tumors
If you consume a lot of high fructose corn syrup you could be
helping fuel the growth of cancers, according to recent
research. Scientists at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer
Center found pancreatic tumors feed and replicate faster when
the body is fed high fructose corn syrup. Pancreatic cancers
use fructose to activate a key cellular pathway that creates
faster cell division and a more aggressive cancer growth.
This 2010 study was the first to show that fructose, and not
glucose which is widely known to fuel cancers, helps tumors
grow.
Learn more about sugar and its health effects: Sugar The
Disease Connection/ Ideal Breakfast for Diabetics/ Foods That
Lower Your Blood Sugar/ Diet Sodas -Bad for Your Health? /
Break Through Your Diet Plateau
How Many Calories Do I Burn
Quinoa-The New Superfood?
Break Through Your Diet Plateau
How Many Calories Do I Burn
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