High Fructose Corn Syrup and Obesity

Soda Kills
It’s a well known fact that obesity is a killer, but what’s the root cause of obesity in America? With all the processed, enriched, and fortified foods we eat today this isn’t an easy question and it may not be one that we’ll soon find an answer for. However, there is a strong correlation between the obesity epidemic in America and the use of High Fructose Corn syrup, which is the key ingredient in Soda pop and many other products. Dr. George A. Bray an obesity researcher and professor of medicine at Louisiana State University, says, “Nothing else in the food supply does this, it’s a very striking relationship”.

What is high fructose corn syrup? High fructose corn syrup or HFCS was designed in a laboratory by scientists and is a chemically altered version of corn syrup that is extracted from any variety of corn. According to an article posted in the Los Angeles Times, HFCS was created by Japanese scientists in the 1960’s. They used enzymes to convert cornstarch into a liquid that was high in fructose, a “sweet sugar found in fruit and honey” (Allen 202). The chemical make-up of HFCS is similar to sucrose, or table sugar, in that it contains nearly the same amount of both fructose and glucose. However sucrose is a more natural product it’s extracted from sugar cane rather than made in a laboratory. Thousands and thousands of products contain HFCS. Many people think of it as a sweetener used in drinks, which is a very common place to find HFCS, but in reality it’s used as a sweetener in most processed foods in America and it’s becoming more common throughout the world. It can be found in condiments, pastries, desserts, and any other processed foods.

There are many Americans that deny the fact that HFCS is having an effect on obesity; many of them employed by the corn industry. A PR Newswire article states, “HFCS account for about one-half of sweetener use in the United States but only eight percent worldwide, yet obesity rates are climbing in countries that use little or no high fructose corn syrup. Sugar remains the predominant global sweetener” (PR Newswire 1). Some say that cane sugar is just as bad for us, which may be true, but the low price tag on HFCS is what’s causing us to over consume. The abundance of subsidized corn that we produce in America allows us to manufacture the syrup at a fraction of what we traditionally paid for cane sugar that was primarily imported from Mexico and South America. These extra calories have a direct impact on our weight. High fructose corn syrup is so inexpensive to produce that we’ve seen an explosion of cheap drinks. Thus fast food chains and bottling companies are able to provide “super sized” drinks at rock bottom prices. The serving sizes exploded from twelve to sixty-four ounces. Grocery stores often sell generic sodas for less than what they sell their bottled water for. The dollar store sells two liter bottles for only ninety-nine cents. None of this was true before the mid 1970’s when HFCS was perfected, creating syrup that was “55 percent fructose and 100 percent as sweet as sugar” (King 1). Traditional sugar was too expensive.

According to various sources HFCS has been used in America since the 1970’s which has a direct correlation with obesity issues in the US. This doesn’t necessarily mean that high fructose corn syrup is the primary cause; there have been many changes to the way our foods are processed. There are hundreds of new additives to foods including dyes like yellow 6 and preservatives like “benzoates (such as sodium benzoate) and nitrites (such as sodium nitrite)” (Brain 1). Not to mention all the oils and different forms of fat that we find in just about everything we eat. But we do consume a lot of this new form of sugar, about “62 pounds per person” annually, yep, we get about “200 calories a day” on average from it (Helm 1). That’s a good reason to point the finger at HFCS.

Some believe that the way HFCS is metabolized makes it contribute to obesity. Its high levels of fructose are harder to digest than other sugars, due to the fact that fructose is primarily “metabolized in the liver” and “the fructose propels the liver into a fat-promoting mode by activating the formation of enzymes that lead to elevated levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides” (King F1). Our bodies are not used to processing sugar in this form, it’s not natural.

Another factor is the affect fructose has on appetite control. “Eating fructose results not only in lower insulin levels but also lower leptin levels” these hormones are both involved in “appetite control” (King F1). This is another example of how HFCS is causing us to over-consume, were eating this stuff and not getting full. The message to stop eating isn’t being delivered to our brain as efficiently as other natural sugars.

There are many factors that play a role in obesity, but there’s no question that the consumption of high fructose corn syrup in America is one of them. HFCS is so common in nearly everything we eat today, from beverages to breakfast cereals it can be found in almost any food product. Cheaper than cane sugars it’s made serving sizes explode and with those larger servings come more calories. We should eat everything in moderation; unfortunately that’s not what’s happening with HFCS and that’s why America is the fattest country in the world.