High Fructose Corn Syrup

I don't know if you've seen them, but there are now commercials on TV promoting the use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I find this disturbing, at best. The problem isn't necessarily with HFCS itself (though, there is evidence that suggests your body is negatively affected by how it processes HFCS); the problem with HFCS is that it is almost exclusively found in processed foods. Many beverages and other processed foods made with HFCS are high in calories and low in nutritional value. Regularly including these products in your diet has the potential to promote obesity; which, in turn, promotes conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

The commercials that I've seen are no doubt trying to make a correlation between HFCS and eating foods containing it as being "healthy". Their main argument: it comes from corn. Using that argument, manure must be good to eat too...it comes from a cow!

True, if you look it up there will be "studies" that show HFCS is no more dangerous than natural sugar. First of all, as mentioned above, HFCS alone isn't the entire problem. Second, these studies are heavily sponsored (i.e., influenced) by the HFCS industry. If I want to know the risks/benefits of snake oil, I surely won't be asking scientists that are sponsored by snake oil salesmen.

To wrap it up...please don't fall for the hype. High fructose corn syrup is primarily used in processed foods. Processed foods are bad for you. The rest should be easy to figure out!


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