High Fructose Corn Syrup

If you were to look at the ingredients of your favorite cereal, your favorite snack or even you're favorite desert, you'd probably notice a familiar ingredient, high fructose corn syrup. This topic is relevant to me, as well as a lot of others, because it is in a lot of products that I consume on a daily basis, and right now, there is a huge debate regarding whether or not HFCS is a cause of obesity/diabetes.

High fructose corn syrup or HFCS is a widely used ingredient that is found in a great deal of products in the United States. It's an artificial sweetener that comes from corn syrup. In the United States, we use HFCS as a sugar substitute, and is very common in processed foods and beverages. According to sweetsurprise.com, "High fructose corn syrup is composed of either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose and higher sugar.[1]" Many food companies use HFCS because it is easily accessible and can be purchased at a fairly low cost. 

The production of HFCS is quite a process. According to http://sweetscam.com/how-its-made/, they state: 

• "To make high fructose corn syrup, the corn is first harvested and sent to the wet mill.
  
• Next, the corn is crushed in a mill and then run through screens in order to separate the corn starch from other parts of the kernel.
  
  
• After being separated, natural enzymes are added to the liquid, which converts some of the sugars in the liquid from glucose to fructose. The resulting liquid is typically 42 percent fructose and 58 percent glucose.
  
  
• From there, the liquid is passed through activated carbon and filtered.
  
• The final product is called HFCS-42, and is used to sweeten many baked goods.
  
• Some of the HFCS-42 then goes through a liquid filtration process to increase the fructose content, creating a liquid that is 90 percent fructose. This product is called HFCS-90.
  
• Finally, the two liquids, HFCS-42 and HFCS-90, are blended to make a mixture that is 55% fructose. The final blend, called HFCS-55, is widely used as a sweetener in sodas [2]."

I was unable to find a site that told me how much HFCS was consumed and produced in the U.S. The websites I found all contradicted one another. Most websites concluded that there was a significant increase in the production of HFCS within the last few years because of the economy. Since, like I previously stated, HFCS is cheaper to produce and harvest as opposed to simple table sugar, companies who were affected by the economy have turned to cheaper alternatives to their ingredients. Unfortunately, one of them is HFCS.

There are many debates going on right now regarding whether or not HFCS is actually a reason why there is an obesity/diabetes epidemic going on in the United States. According to ajcn.org, "The consumption of HFCS increased > 1000% between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding the changes in intake of any other food or food group. HFCS now represents > 40% of caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages and is the sole caloric sweetener in soft drinks in the United States. [3]" Could this be the reason for the rise in obesity?

HFCS is in so many products that you wouldn't think of...Breads, cereals, yogurts, and even in nutrition bars. It's really shocking to see that is really is in almost everything. Starting on OCT. 1st, I gave up consuming products that contained HFCS. So far, it's been challenging finding products that DON'T contain HFCS. Maybe i'll loose weight. 

If there is so much evidence and studies about HFCS and how it negatively affects health, how come the FDA is still allowing it to be produced?

Resources:

1. http://www.sweetsurprise.com/myths-and-facts/faqs-high-fructose-corn-syrup?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=high%2Bfructose%2Bcorn%2Bsyrup&utm_content=HFCS%2BFacts&utm_campaign=HFCS%2BFacts&gclid=CP-SjomFuqQCFQHW5wod73Uwyw

2.http://sweetscam.com/how-its-made/

3.http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537?ijkey=3a74469113059287563c0dbc3f9b874276f46666