High Fructose Corn Syrup is in nearly everything we eat. Thanks to the subsidies applied to corn allowing it to be sold for under the price of production it has been used for everything from cattle feed to sweetener.
But the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup have been mostly ignored while the so called "virtues" have gained more attention as a result of a series of propaganda commercials aired during such events as the Super Bowl.
All this despite studies finding correlations between obesity and HFCS, and reports documenting high levels of mercury within HFCS.
Today it was announced that a group of Princeton Researchers were able to conclusively demonstrate the weight gain caused by High Fructose Corn Syrup.
The article featured by Science Daily goes into further detail but the facts shown are conclusive.
In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.
"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."
But not only is HFCS more fattening than sugar. It is dangerously so. Half the dose of HFCS causes twice as much weight gain across the board in animals as a comparative dose of standard cane sugar.
The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.
But not only was this a examination of the short term effects but the long term effects of use of HFCS.
The second experiment -- the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals -- monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet. In humans, this would be equivalent to a 200-pound man gaining 96 pounds.
Lets look at a chart shall we, it tracks the consumption of HFCS in the United States over history.
Let us look at the Obesity rate over history.
Now lets compare the points...
Is it any suprise that expenditure on health care has gone up in a similiar manner? Obesity means more disease and less healthy lifestyles amongst the American People, which undoubtedly inflates the price of healthcare.
We need to look at not only Universal Health Care, but also controlling the cost of inflation as part of any continuing health reform. It seems undoubtedly that the subsidy of Corn and the affects of HFCS on the American people in the form of Obesity must be stopped in order to decrease our expenditure and to increase the feasibility of our national health system.
Simply put, not only is HFCS making more people less healthy, but it is making those that are more healthy less able to afford healthcare. Under any circumstances neither of these things are acceptable. We must put a stop to the use of HFCS in our food today.