High Fructose Corn Syrup Revealed

Just the other day, my friend asked me why I stay away from high fructose corn syrup products, “aren’t they the same?”, and NO they are most definitely not. Not all sugars are the same and your body certainly can tell the difference.

Let’s start with the too often used term “natural”, ok high fructose corn syrup is natural but there wouldn’t be a natural without man, the corn had to be processed to become the corn syrup but so is sugar, so natural doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. However, the label “organic” on most foods means there was no high fructose corn syrup involved.

We all know that too much sugar in a diet is bad, but there is a difference in the composition. High fructose corn syrup has a higher fructose to glucose ratio while sugar is 50/50. Fructose is not metabolized the same as glucose, the labor of fructose goes entirely to your liver. The liver converts the fructose to fatty acids at a greater rate than the glucose. Also the fructose increases the uric acid in your body thereby decreasing the nitric oxide in your blood. The reduction in the nitric oxide isn’t good because nitric oxide gives you that extra push when you pump iron but that’s an article for another time.

Finally and most importantly, high fructose corn syrup makes you FAT! The fructose tricks your body’s metabolism by shutting down the fullness signals sent your brain. An experiment down by students at Princeton saw that lab rats with a high fructose diet gained more weight and were more prone to obesity. The increase in fructose in the body will inevitably lead to weight gain and worst of all an increase in your body fat percentage! There is also evidence that corn is damaging our DNA, you can learn more about that through KING CORN. But my main focus here is the fattening powers of high fructose corn syrup.

There is an easy solution to this all, simply avoid high fructose corn syrups. Try to avoid soda and even some juices that are high in fructose. If you must drink juice dilute it with water or better just drink water. As for sweeteners, why not try using an organic honey or maybe PureVia , spending a few extra bucks to stay fit sounds worth it. Personally, I just prefer less sweeter things, why sugar coat the natural goodness.