HFCS strongly influence the American eating habit and put American’s health into a depth of despair. Research showed that between the years from 1970 to 1990, American consumed HFCS as a sugar substitute has increased 1000%. “It now represents 40% of the non-calorie-free sweeteners added to U.S foods and is virtually the only source of sweeteners for soft drinks.” Scott mentioned. Overly in taking of HFCS is also coming with economical concern. HFCS is very cheap, which has allowed for “25¢ snack cakes, 60¢ candy bars, and especially giant-sized soft drinks in stores” declared by Scott Field on The fact on the land. Although people immersed in the fantasies created by HFCS, cheap and non-calories, the function of human body to process fructose is totally different from it does glucose, which means even HFCS doesn’t come with calories, but doesn’t mean it couldn’t directly transfer fructose into fat. So, it is not surprising that HFCS’s sales skyrocket, the American waistline is keeping…
Both high fructose corn syrup and any other sweetener gives food a more pleasurable taste and they contain about the same amount of calories. High fructose corn syrup and sugar are metabolically similar and both cause negative effects on the body when not eaten in moderation (Hyman). Vast amounts of HFCS promotes teeth decay and it raises triglyceride levels in the blood which increases the risk of heart disease. It makes the liver fatty which increases the risk of diabetes and fructose affects hormone levels like insulin which results in obesity (Food Additives – CSPI’s). High fructose corn syrup punches holes within the intestinal lining allowing bacteria from toxic gut byproducts and partially ingested food proteins to infiltrate into the blood stream which provokes obesity, diabetes, and cancer…
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…
Corn is among the most planted and produced crops in the US. According to 2013 statistics, the US is the largest corn producer in the world with 80 million acres of corn fields and almost $64 billion annual sales. Besides its consumption as raw food, industrial processing of corn yields high economic value. Among industrial uses of corn, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the most controversial one from an ethics perspective. HFCS is an artificial sweetener that is found in a wide range of processed foods. It is produced by applying enzymatic processes to convert corn’s glucose into fructose. HCFS is used as a sweetener in various foods and beverages such as yogurts, breakfast bars, cereals, breads, soups, lunch meats, and soft drinks. Since 1970s, it has become the most economical alternative to cane sugar and replaced most of its use as an industrial sweetener. Due to quotas on domestic increased tariffs on sugar imports, the US has the highest price for sugar around the world while government subsidies to corn production make HFCS a much cheaper alternative to sugar. Moreover, HFCS is easy to transport, %20 sweeter than table sugar, and extends the shelf life of products. As a result, HFCS has become a major substitute for cane sugar for the U.S industry such that soft drink giants like Coke and Pepsi use HFCS in their products instead of sugar since 1984. Despite its economic value, HFCS is shown to be related to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fatty liver disease. This paper examines the ethical issues of HFCS use in foods and beverages.…
In the introduction, Pollan brings up a very good point about Americans and their views on dieting and eating “healthier”. Pollan explains the way that Americans went through a so-called “carbophobia” period in 2002, and how, unfortunately, this seems to remain true even today. The foods that American’s tend stay away from because of scientists and nutritionists devaluing…
The book “Salt Sugar Fat” by Michael Moss talks about the realizations of the industry. He proves his point that “It’s not like there’s a smoking gun. The gun is right there. It is not hidden.” This meaning everyone already knows the dangers of the industry but yet act like they were blind sighted from the start. Moss stated how the industry markets toward “heavy users” meaning repeating customers who can’t get enough. The industry will use their money towards marketing these users instead of neew ones because they have found this to be more effective. An interesting fact from the book would be how the fast food industry has an 80% rule. This means that they food that they are advertising has to be eighty percent familiar to the customer or the customer could question what they were buying. Moss tells his readers that we have 10,000 taste buds and we can taste the sugar all the way down to our pancreas. Moss quotes in the book that he met a name man Jean Mayor who provided interesting information” His name was Jean Mayer, a Harvard professor of nutrition...was hugely influential in matters of diet, starting with poverty and hunger...which led to the introduction of food stamps and expanded school lunch programs...endeared him to the food industry...But what made Mayer an industry threat was his pioneering research on obesity, which he called a "disease of civilization." He is credited with discovering how the desire to eat is controlled by the amount of glucose in the blood and by the brain 's hypothalamus, both of which in turn are greatly influenced by sugar." (p.74). This shows how addictive sugar can really be. The next section in the book was fat. "As I spoke with scientists about the way fat behaves, I couldn 't resist drawing an analogy to the realm of narcotics. If sugar is the methamphetamine of processed food…
Research indicates that there is a positive correlation between consumption of high fructose corn syrup and obesity percentages. Sucrose is the leading added sweetener in in the manufacture of foods in the Unites States and is the biggest source of fructose. Sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are metabolized identically and react the same way to insulin, leptin and ghrelin. Sucrose is indifferent from HFCS in causing obesity. Compared to glucose, sucrose is extracted directly from the liver while glucose goes directly to the bloodstream causing larger sugar spikes. HFCS and sucrose have an identical effect on glucose and hormones such as insulin. Sucrose=50% glucose + 50% fructose; HFCS = . 55% fructose + 45% glucose. Excessive amount of fructose intake as added sugar…
Obesity is perhaps one of the biggest problems society faces today, people are asking the question: Who is to blame? Fast food, while a major contributor, but it is not the only cause of the obesity epidemic in America. In particular, food producers that supply the high calorie, minimally nutritious, and highly processed foods that dominate our market must be examined. Although the external factors are important, it is more important for American citizens to educate themselves to make more informed individual decisions.…
The film “Fed Up”, produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David, was an interesting and informative film about the dangers of sugar consumption and its contribution to obesity. The strengths of the film were that they gave examples of two major changes that the food industry made to try and save themselves instead of putting the people’s best interest first. Therefore, the American Academy of Family Physicians teamed up with coca cola to say that soft drinks had nothing to do with obesity, when science showed otherwise, while 20 doctors that helped make up the association publicly resigned. Then came the McGovern report in 1977 that issued the first dietary goals, stating that the American diet was overly rich in fatty meats, rich in saturated fats and cholesterol, and rich in sugar,…
There are many harmful effects that will inevitably occur when this is consumed, and it is important to change the way people eat before the negative effects are part of their everyday life. There are no known positive effects on the health system related to HFCS; the only positive effects are producer related. It is more important to take care of an individual’s health than to make producing food easier for companies. A strong revolution is needed to make sure high fructose corn syrup is not included as an ingredient…
Americans consume around 100 pounds of sugar per year. The daily consumption of sugar has increased worldwide by 46% in the last 30 years (“Sugar”). The Netflix film “Sugar Coated” shows what people have been ignoring over the years about sugar. "As obesity, diabetes, and heart disease rates skyrocket and doctors treat the first generation of children suffering from fatty liver disease, the sugar industry is under siege,” (“Sugar”). This means that more diseases are starting to come while the sugar industry is only growing. Also, this problem doesn’t just affect health, it affects everyday life. "This problem affects you at home, this problem affects you at work, this problem affects your business deals, and…
3. There are many contributing factors that cause obesity, many health risks, and anti-obesity efforts to help combat the obesity epidemic.…
Perhaps one of the most discussed topics in America over the past years is the obesity epidemic that has struck, not only the USA, but many countries worldwide. The documentary Fed Up, directed by Stephanie Soechtig aims to address the issue of rising obesity rates due to our increase of sugar consumption. The film also discusses the hypocrisy of the USDA, which tries to warn people of their dietary habits while simultaneously providing billions of dollars in subsidies to farmers to produce corn, which in turn gets made into high fructose corn syrup (i.e. sugar) and inadvertently making the matter worse. Ultimately though, the documentary names the Food Industry the main culprit. For the most part the movie has received positive reviews.…
Obesity in America is a continually growing problem and even worse our own children are sharing in this problem. A commentary in the Washington Times reports that sixty million Americans are obese. What really is the meaning of obese? Obese is having a body mass index of thirty percent or more. In recent years, the percentage of obese Americans has risen. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of obese Americans rose from 22.9 in 1984-1994 to 32.2 in 2003 and 2004. The study also says if you throw in the number of "over weight" Americans (body mass index of 25 to 29.9) the total jumps to 66.3 percent of all Americans (Alfred A18). Why are we steadily becoming heavier as a nation, primarily because of our eating habits, genetic and metabolic causes and an excess of inactivity. As more and more people of our nation deal with obesity, they also have to deal with major health problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack and Type II diabetes that all stem from being obese.…
In order to understand why obesity is so prevalent in America today, the average diet of American citizens must be taken into account. According to data provided by The United States Department of Agriculture, Americans today consume too much red meat and sugar and too little vegetables and carbohydrates (grains). Because we consume so much red meat, which is high in saturated fat, calories and cholesterol, our diets are inherently riddled with fat and calories. Our sugar consumption also is a glaring issue. By consuming far more simple carbohydrates than we need from sugar, Americans are providing themselves with empty calories that spike blood glucose. This is compounded with the fact that the average American diet lacks proper consumption of complex carbohydrates, which come from whole grains and wheat…