Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Corn Syrup vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup

These two are the same thing. Apparently, The Corn Refiners Association (didn't even know there was such a thing) applied with the federal gov't to have the name changed to corn syrup in hopes that the consumers would think it's healthier. Isn't that lovely? It's so annoying that they're trying to fool the American people like that but apparently companies have been doing things like this for years. You can read more about this here.

We've been trying to get high fructose syrup out of our diet for a few months now and it has really surprised me of how much of our products contain high fructose corn syrup. I have found it in everything from breads, to certain brands of yogurt, ketchup, fruit juices, jams...etc. I mean, it's everywhere!!
According to the CDC, since high fructose corn syrup was introduced 40 years ago as a cheaper sweetener, obesity rates have greatly increased. In 1970 only 15% of the American population were obese. Now, it's about a third of the population.

The Princeton Neuroscience Institute have been doing a couple of experiments on the affects of high fructose corn syrup vs. glucose which, I find, very interesting. The rats that were given high fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than the ones given just plain ole' table sugar. The long term affects were even worse. The rats given HFCS showed symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome. These symptoms included a significant increase in circulating triglycerides and abnormal weight gain (specifically around the belly). This article gives more specific information on this, all the scientific terminology and stuff that I'm not repeating here... hehe! They describe the rats as having "ballooned in size".

It's just so frustrating that they're trying to fool the public and the worst part is that a lot of people don't care or don't even know that these are the same. Basically, what I'm saying is to start reading labels because...

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