The Dangers of High Fructose Corn Sryup

Introduction
High fructose corn syrup is found in just about every sweetened food product in America—from ice cream to Coca Cola to Nature’s Made gummy vitamins. Since it is so prevalent an ingredient, most would think it harmless, too. However, as Bray, Nielsen and Popkin (2004) have shown, consuming foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup could play a major role in the onset of obesity. Indeed, the obesity epidemic in the West has coincided with the rise of the soda pop, fast food culture that dominated the American experience in the latter half of the 20th century and continues on to this day (Boutelle, Fulkerson, Neumark-Sztainer, Story & French, 2007; Morrill & Chin, 2004). This paper will discuss the dangers high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) poses for one’s health.
The Rise of HFCS Consumption
Bray et al. (2004) point out that the consumption of high fructose corn syrup increased over 1000% “between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding the changes in intake of any other food or food group” (p. 537). While this astounding growth is startling, the effect that such heavy intake of this particular ingredient is even more startling. It seems that the more high fructose corn syrup one consumes, the more one is compelled to consume more and more calories that the body, moreover, is unable to process in an efficient way (Bray et al., 2004). This is especially dangerous because high fructose corn syrup makes up more than 40% of “caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages and is the sole caloric sweetener in soft drinks in the United States” (Bray et al., 2004, p. 537). With so many people drinking soft drinks and eating sweetened snacks, it should be no surprise that the rate of consumption high fructose corn syrup has risen so high so fast.
The effects of so much of this sweetening agent on the body are the real issue, however. Bocarsly, Powell, Avena and Hoebel (2010) conducted a study to evaluate the effects of HFCS. They found that over a 7 month trial period, rats that had access to HFCS gained more body weight than rats not exposed to the sweetener. The increase in body weight was “accompanied by an increase in adipose fat, notably in the abdominal region, and elevated circulating triglyceride levels” (Bocarsly, 2010, p. 101). The researchers interpreted these results by extrapolating the data and using it to explain the rise in obesity in the human population in the latter half of the 20th century, when HFCS became a popular additive to foods, replacing sugar/sucrose, which is less stable in acidic foods/beverages and requires greater dilution before adding to foods (White, 2008). As more and more food producers began using HFCS instead of sugar, obesity began to rise in the U.S. (Bocarsly et al., 2010; Bray et al., 2004).
The Danger
Aside from being linked to climbing obesity rates, HFCS has also been identified as a risk factor in cardiovascular disease (Stanhope et al., 2015). Stanhope et al. (2015) conducted a study on the effects of drinking beverages with a range of HFCS content. Specifically, they “determined the dose-response effects of consuming beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) at zero, low, medium, and high proportions of energy requirements (Ereq) on circulating lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for CVD and uric acid in adults” (Stanhope et al., 2015, p. 1144). The researchers found that after just 2 weeks of consumption of HFCS beverages, the body must work harder to process the sweetener and prolonged exposure supports the argument that HFCS can contribute to the onset of cardiovascular disease. Stanhope et al. (2015) asserted that “humans are sensitive to the adverse effects of sustained sugar consumption at a relatively wide range of intake” (p. 1154) and that dietary interventions are required to help people moderate their sugar intake.
Malik et al. (2010) have found that HFCS can lead to the onset of diabetes, as it damages the body’s ability to process natural sugars. Because HFCS is a concentrated form of sugar in fructose form, the body (which is better equipped to process the sucrose form of sugar) becomes overworked when HFCS is consumed. The danger of consuming HFCS is that the body can begin to suffer from diabetes from metabolic upset produced by habitual HFCS consumption. Diabetes and obesity are commonly linked, and cardiovascular disease is another common problem occurring among the American population today. The thread that has consistently been identified over the past decade as linking all of these problematic conditions is the consumption of HFCS.
Disagreement
Not all researchers agree with the findings or the opinion that HFCS is detrimental to one’s health. Following the publication of the initial report by Bray et al. (2004), White (2008) published a study entitled “Straight talk about high-fructose corn syrup: What it is an d what it ain’t.” The study takes a look at some of the claims about HFCS and makes the argument that HFCS is not responsible for any of the dangers or risks associated with it by researchers like Bray et al. White (2008) asserts that high fructose corn syrup impacts the body no differently than sucrose and that high fructose corn syrup is not the same as pure fructose. The article attempts to dispel the accusations leveled at HFCS—however, it is ultimately unconvincing because it provides no empirical data or research to back up its claims.
The corn industry also has taken offence at the research produced by Bray et al. While Dr. Hyman (2018) has explained how HFCS can lead to “heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay, and more” even when consumed in moderation, the corn industry has asserted that HFCS is a natural product and therefore is not harmful to people. Hyman (2018) describes how the Corn Refiners Association sent him “a 12-page color glossy monograph…reviewing the ‘science’ that HFCS was safe and no different than cane sugar.”  The reason the corn industry is being so proactive in defending its product is that the food industry, as Hyman (2018) notes makes up 17% of the U.S. economy—which means there is a lot of money and business at stake—so keeping a lid on the dangers of HFCS is crucial for the corn industry and for the food industry as a whole, which has benefited mightily from cheap sweetener relative to sugar (which can become expensive due to geo-political factors).
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that even if HFCS were no worse than ordinary table sugar, the amount in which it is consumed is still deadly. Sugar in all its forms can lead to diabetes, obesity and heart disease when consumed in high amounts (which it is by a very high percentage of Americans today). The other point is that, in spite of the argument made by White (2008) that HFCS and table sugar are biochemically the same, the reality is that they are not. As Hyman (2018) states: “High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist Michael Pollan to observe it for his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS.” Thus, while ordinary table sugar (cane sugar) consists of equal parts glucose and fructose bound together, which are broken down by enzymes in the body and absorbed (unless one is diabetic), HFCS consists of glucose and fructose as well—but not in equal parts: the fructose part of the product is greater and is also not bound to the glucose part. This is problematic because the normal digestion process required for bound chemicals is not needed in unbound chemicals. They are absorbed more quickly into the bloodstream as a result. Fructose travels directly to the liver and sets off the process of lipogenesis (Hyman, 2018). Lipogenesis causes trigylcerides and cholesterol to form, which leads to liver damage—aka the fatty liver problem that impacts some 70 million Americans yearly (Hyman, 2018).
As for the glucose in HFCS, it forces the body to produce more insulin in order to process the sugar. Together, the rapid absorption of glucose and fructose cause metabolic disturbances. These disturbances are directly related to increases in weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even the development of a greater appetite. The more sugar one consumes, the more one tends to want to eat. It is thus a vicious cycle in which people over-consume because they have been too indulgent with the sweets. HFCS, far from being safe, is like a drug for the body that compels it to crave more and more of the addictive sweet stuff.
Conclusion
In conclusion, HFCS has been shown by researchers over the past 10+ years to have negative effects on the body’s health. Its rapid absorption by the blood stream as a result of its chemical makeup leads to more work on the part of the body, a spike in insulin production and the a spike in triglyceride levels. It has been linked to excessive weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and other issues. The corn industry has attempted to defend against accusations that its product is any more harmful than regular table sugar—but the fact is that neither in the proportions that Americans generally consume them in is healthy. It may continue to be debated as to whether or not HFCS is worse than cane sugar in terms of stressing the body, but the reality is that no excessive amount of sugar is good for one. The evidence indicates that the rise in obesity in the U.S. is directly associated with the over thousand-fold increase of HFCS consumption since the 1970s.




References
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