My Diet: Avoidance of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Consumers trying to avoid genetically modified foods should avoid HFCS. It is almost certainly made from genetically modified corn and then it is processed with genetically modified enzymes. I've seen some estimates claiming that virtually everything—almost 80 percent—of what we eat today has been genetically modified at some point. Since the use of HFCS is so prevalent in processed foods, those figures may be right.

But there's another reason to avoid HFCS. Consumers may think that because it contains fructose—which they associate with fruit, which is a natural food—that it is healthier than sugar. A team of investigators at the USDA, led by Dr. Meira Field, has discovered that this just ain't so.

Sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose. When sugar is given to rats in high amounts, the rats develop multiple health problems, especially when the rats were deficient in certain nutrients, such as copper. The researchers wanted to know whether it was the fructose or the glucose moiety that was causing the problems. So they repeated their studies with two groups of rats, one given high amounts of glucose and one given high amounts of fructose. The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results. The male rats did not reach adulthood. They had anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy—that means that their hearts enlarged until they exploded. They also had delayed testicular development. Dr. Field explains that fructose in combination with copper deficiency in the growing animal interferes with collagen production. (Copper deficiency, by the way, is widespread in America.) In a nutshell, the little bodies of the rats just fell apart. The females were not so affected, but they were unable to produce live young.

"The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."

HFCS contains more fructose than sugar and this fructose is more immediately available because it is not bound up in sucrose. Since the effects of fructose are most severe in the growing organism, we need to think carefully about what kind of sweeteners we give to our children. Fruit juices should be strictly avoided—they are very high in fructose (I'll have to check on Juicy Juice)—but so should anything with HFCS.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is in so many things, from those marketed as weight loss or healthy foods, to regular soda. It's pretty easy, though, to find a complete lifestyle menu of foods without it, but it'll be hard - and takes time - to let go of some of your favorite foods that include it.

Head's up: It IS in "healthy" cereals: Frosted Mini Wheats and yes, Special K! Light Yogurts, such as Dannon's. What's it not in? (The surprisingly relatively low cal) Corn Pops. Ha ha. (I've been eating that practically every morning, and I need to buy another box.)

My friend's sister lost a good amount of weight on a diet without HFCS, and she didn't exercise. My plan is to avoid HFCS, exercise a lot, and eat well.

Technorati Tags: diet, health, HFCS, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, weight loss.