Want Corn Syrup with That?
Health Alert 187

Today you have the first in a series of three alerts about supposed "health foods" that aren't. Many of the products labeled as healthy are problems, not solutions. Specifically, there are several new studies linking high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) with a slew of health problems.

What's HFCS have to do with the "health food" label? A lot, unfortunately. The vast majority use HFCS as a principle ingredient. It is the first ingredient after water in nearly all non-diet drinks marketed as "healthy" alternatives. This includes Arizona and Sobe teas, popular sports drinks and children's fruit juice drinks. It's in most meal replacement bars and shakes.

*Involuntary Corn-Fed Hogs*

A report this April in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition connects HFCS to obesity. The researchers report that body weights in America rose slowly for most of the 20th century until the late 1980s. At that time, the rate of obesity and related health problems surged.1

Food processors began using high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s because it's super-sweet, easy to store and extremely cheap to produce. The consumption of HFCS increased more than 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990. This far exceeds changes in any other food intake. Today, people who drink soft drinks and processed foods get an extra 300 calories of HFCS a day. 2

A study in the June 2004 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that fructose alters the hormones involved in appetite regulation. A drink with the fructose in two cans of soda caused low levels of the hormone leptin. Leptin lets you know that you have eaten enough. It causes high levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates eating. The net result is that your hormones tell you to keep eating. 3

HFCS also spikes blood triglycerides increasing risk of heart disease. The USDA implicated HFCS in heart abnormalities. Rats normally live for about two years. However, when fed a high-fructose, low copper diet they died after 5 weeks. Researchers abruptly stopped one of the few human studies of low-copper, high-fructose diets when four of the 24 subjects developed heart abnormalities. 4

High fructose diets cause diabetes. The Human Nutrition Research Center found that fructose reduces stores of chromium, essential for normal insulin function. Fructose can also damage your liver. Your liver is the only part of your body that can metabolize fructose. Animals fed large amounts of fructose develop fatty livers, cirrhosis and alcoholic-like liver damage. 5

* To Avoid HFCS Stick to Whole Foods *

High fructose corn syrup is a cause of obesity and diabetes and diseases of your heart and liver. It is not natural to anyone's diet. The only good solution is to avoid it. Since HFCS is in so many of the foods we eat, you may have to put some effort into avoiding it. But it is possible. After all, we only began eating this ingredient 25 years ago.

The easiest way to eliminate HFCS is to avoid processed foods especially drinks. If you drink bottled or canned juices, teas or "health drinks" consider them the same as soda. They only have different flavorings and colorings.

Water is the best drink. Stick to naturally occurring whole foods. Satisfy your sweet tooth with berries, whole fresh fruit or a tall glass of natural lemonade. If you do use processed foods or drinks, read product labels for HFCS listings. Next time, we'll look at diet foods and drinks.

Al Sears, M.D.