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Sugar Is Not Sugar: the Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup

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Sugar Is Not Sugar: the Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup
Sugar is Not Sugar: The Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Rhonda Sullivan

DeVry University

Sugar is Not Sugar: The Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup Every one has seen the infamous TV commercial with the young couple sitting in a park on a blanket, innocently sharing a Popsicle made out of High Fructose Corn Syrup. The female offers her male cohort a portion of the frozen treat, responding to his hesitance with the disreputable claim hosted by the corn industry, “sugar is sugar.” Ironic, this commercial enticing the general public to accept the ill-fated ingredient of High Fructose Corn Syrup, is the epitome of Eve offering Adam the apple in The Garden of Eden. High Fructose Corn Syrup has seemed to invade even the most discrete products in the current day kitchen. Hiding in ketchup, soups, and meats, to name only a few, this overused sweetener has wreaked havoc on the American people; much less the unfortunate, overweight, diseased, diabetic rats that fell victim to its studies. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a man made, chemically altered, and potentially neurotoxic byproduct, largely at fault for our nation’s health epidemics of obesity diabetes and cardiac disease, but if eradicated from our diet the sequelae of its morbid effects could be alleviated. Problems Although society is starting to hear more controversial information about the ill health effects of HFCS consumption, what they are not aware of is the dangerous contaminates within it. Chemicals and enzymes used in the processing of corn into HFCS are polluting it with unsafe levels of mercury, and since this heavy metal is neurotoxic, it could very well be to blame for the rapid rise in Autism and other neurological disorders amongst our youth (Geier, King, Sykes, & Geier, 2008). To first understand how mercury ends up invading the Nation’s processed food sources, people need to understand how HFCS is developed. As described by Wallinga,


References: Johnson, R.J., Perez-Pozo, S.E., Sautin, Y.Y., Manitius, J., Sanchez-Lozada, L.G., Feig, D.I., Shafiu, M., Segal, M., Glassock, R.J., Shimada, M., et al. (2009). Hypothesis: could excessive fructose intake and uric acid cause type 2 diabetes? Endocrine Review (1), p. 96–116. doi: 10.1210/er.2008-0033 Kelpe, C.L., Johnson, L.M., Poitout, V. (2002). Increasing triglyceride synthesis inhibits glucose-induced insulin secretion in isolated rat islets of langerhans: a study using adenoviral expression of diacylglycerol acyltransferase. Endocrinology 143 (9). P. 3326-32. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12193544 Parker, H. (2010, March 22). A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain. News at Princeton. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/ Reshanov, A. (2012, June 7). A brief history of high fructose corn syrup. Earth Sky [blog]. Retrieved from http://earthsky.org/human-world/a-brief-history-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup Rudy, L. J., (2009, May 12). Is autism on the rise? About.com Health’s Disease and Condition. Retrieved from http://autism.about.com/od/causesofautism/p/ontherise.htm Schettler, T. (2001). Toxic threats to neurologic development of children. Environmental Health Perspective 109(6). P. 813–6 Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1240616/pdf/ehp109s-000813.pdf Wallinga, D., Sorensen, P.M., Yablon, B. (2009, January 26). Not so sweet: Missing mercury and high fructose corn syrup. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Retrieved from http://www.iatp.org/files/421_2_105026.pdf
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