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High Fructose Corn Syrup and sulfuric acid in your daily diet
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High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has received a large amount of attention in the media recently. You’ve heard that it’sunhealthy, linked to obesity and diabetes and has dangerous effects on blood sugar levels. You’ve probably also seen the opposing commercials sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association stating that HFCS is natural, made from corn and no worse than table sugar. While this topic has been thrown around quite a bit, there are a few disturbing details about HFCS that you may not know.
Claim #1 - HFCS is natural. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have a definition for the term “natural,” but has established a policy for use of the term. Under FDA rules “natural” means, “nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in or has been added to a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.” This means that the FDA considers products derived from natural materials to be “natural” and has concluded that “natural” flavors produced from processing (such as those used in corn refining) are indeed “natural.”
If you consider how HFCS is actually made, you might be surprised that highly processed corn products can be considered safe to consume, let alone “natural.” In the documentary King Corn, the process of making HFCS is demonstrated. According to this documentary, after the kernels are heated to140 degrees Fahrenheit, a small amount of sulfuric acid is added. It is then soaked for 16 hours to soften and separate the starch from the fiber. Enzymes are then added to convert the glucose into fructose.
Pure sulfuric acid is not found naturally on earth. This highly hazardous and corrosive mineral acid is used in vehicle batteries, oil refining and wastewater processing. Yet, this acid is used to create HFCS, and HFCS is in the majority of processed foods that so many Americans consume every single day.
Claim #2 - HFCS is made from corn. Most corn in the United States is commodity corn – corn that you cannot eat without processing. This is not the sweet ear of corn you picked up at your local farm stand. This is industrialized corn that is modified, sprayed with herbicides and hazardous chemicals to produce the highest yield possible. The higher the yield the more money made from government subsidies. Without these subsidies, many farmers would not be able to make a profit from their gigantic fields of corn.
Industrialized corn is unnaturally high in starch and low in protein. It is sprayed with anhydrous ammonia and an herbicide so that it can be grown much closer together, therefore producing more corn. The corn is also genetically modified so that it can withstand the herbicide. Without the genetic modification, the herbicide would kill the corn, as any strong chemical would. To say that HFCS is okay because it’s made from corn does not make it safe or healthy – you wouldn’t want to eat an ear of corn produced this way, much less HCFS or other corn products. Again, this information can be found in the documentary, King Corn.
Claim #3 - HFCS is no worse than table sugar. Rather than trying to prove that one is worse than the other, perhaps it would be wise to consider what this statement means. For example, who said that sugar is actually good for you? In comparing the effects of HFCS versus sugar on the human body’s blood sugar level, it is evident that both processed sweeteners are absorbed into the bloodstream almost momentarily after they are consumed, thus raising blood sugar levels very quickly. The body then tries to balance this quick rise in blood sugar by burning it up as quickly as possible, and blood sugar suddenly drops. This sharp rise and fall in blood sugar is dangerous and over time can result in serious conditions, such as hypoglycemia and diabetes.
The statements that HFCS is made from corn, is natural and is no worse than sugar hardly scratch the surface on what you are actually consuming. Perhaps a little HFCS in your diet once in a while won’t do much harm (although consuming anything containing sulfuric acid can never be a good thing), but so much of what the average American eats is a processed food. Processed foods very often contain HFCS, plus many other artificial ingredients that should not be going into your body. The next time you are ready to purchase ice cream, a bag of potato chips, candy bar, box of cookies, soda or other soft drink, consider what you are putting into your body. Check the list of ingredients on the label. If HFCS or any other corn byproduct is listed, ask yourself if that is what you want to be putting into yourself and your children’s bodies.
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