Get the facts - some people cannot digest high fructose corn syrup

4 comments

September 11, 7:41 PM

by Carol Bardelli, Sports Nutrition Examiner

 

 

The Corn Refiners Association has been running commercials that make people who question the safety of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)  look stupid. See links to videos below.

Their commercials and website are called "Sweet Surprise".  They promote the continued use of high frustose corn syrup by food manufacturers and consumers.  "Hey, don't be stupid! It's just like sugar and it's safe."

For some people high fructose corn syrup is not a "sweet surprise" but an unpleasant and painful one.
 
For those of us who suffer fructose intolerance sweeteners such as corn syrup can cause serious bowel irritation and uncomfortable and embarrassing symptoms.  High fructose corn syrup is particularly irritating and extremely prevailent in foods today. If you go in your kitchen right now you'll find something with it on the nutrition label. It's even used in some brands of dill pickles. Most people can digest high fructose corn syrup and convert it to glucose for fuel. For this reason it is generally considered safe. But for some of us it definitely is not.

Fructose intolerance is an inherited metabolic condition.  Sufferers have an absence of an enzyme in their digestive tracts and an inability to convert fructose and similar sugars including HFCS into glucose. These undigested sugars ferment in the gut of the fructose intolerant and cause inflammation, tissue damage and pain. 

Dr. De Lamarr Gibbons says, "Fructose intolerance has been the missing piece of the irritable bowel disease puzzle."

The incidence of Crohn's disease, colitis, IBS, and other inflammatory bowel diseases is reported to be as high as 10-20 percent of the US population according to eMedicine.com.  And since the introduction of corn sweeteners like HFCS into the food market in the late 1970's the incidence of Crohn's disease alone had doubled in a twenty year period.

Each year approximately twenty three thousand of us undergo surgery to remove a section of our colons.  Most are left with a colostomy opening in their abdomen and life long disability and disease.  Many of these surgeries could have been "avoided through dietary treatment," according to Dr. De Lamarr Gibbons, M.D. Sufferers also have triple the risk of developing colon cancer.

My personal experience with fructose intolerance lead to a painful three year ordeal with chronic colitis.  You can read an indepth account of my experience in "A Tale of Two Colons."  What finally saved me and relieved most of my painful symptoms was changing my diet. Most doctors will tell their patients diet has no affect on digestive disorders. But one doctor, a colitis sufferer himself, found out through research that dietary treatment is very effective.

I discovered Dr. De Lamarr Gibbons, M.D. book 'The Self Help Way to Treat Colitis and Other IBS Conditions' and followed his advice closely. I cut certain foods from my diet including most sweeteners. My family have become avid food label readers. We do not buy products that have fructose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, honey, sorbital, xylitol, and a long list of sweeteners. Some foods like barbecue sauce, ketchup, and pickles we're forced to make from scratch. (Okay, I love to cook so that's all right with me).

After many months of being symptom free I added certain "trigger" foods back into my diet. I found I could tolerate small amounts wheat, milk, fruits, and most of the whole foods Dr. Gibbons' diet recommends to be wary of. Some people cannot tolerate these so-called "healthy" foods. Others like myself find they can after their digestive tracts are allowed to heal.

My symptoms only return if I eat foods with high fructose corn syrup, the sweeteners listed above, and other corn products - including whole corn.

Bottom line, if you experience the symptoms of IBS or have been diagnosed with a digestive disease high fructose corn syrup and other common sweeteners may be something you should avoid. Sweet surprises aren't always so sweet.
 

"High fructose corn syrup. Bring more."

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0

"High fructose corn syrup? So?"

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsgXPt564Q

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