No Sugar Tonight

"No Sugar Tonight."  Great song.  The Guess Who.  Fabulous.  Everyone loves The Guess Who.  Everyone loves sugar.  But what kind of sugar are we having?  Is it just plain ole white sugar? Or is it refined sugar.  Processed sugar.  What about High Fructose Corn Syrup- does that count as sugar?  It's what replaced sugar in soft drinks so for our purposes yes, it is sugar.  

But what is it even?  If we drink pop we have it quite a bit- but what else is it in?  And how much is too much?  Is it even safe to drink- or eat?  Oh don't worry- you eat it too... all the time.  Who even knew that?  You would be surprised the list of items that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  

Here let's listen to No Sugar Tonight just in case you still feel like having sugar after you read all of this.  Just click here.  

First of all lets talk about what HFCS is.  I got this definition from Wikipedia.com:

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – called isoglucose in the UK and glucose/fructose in Canada – comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose and has then been mixed with pure corn syrup (100%glucose) to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, HFCS is typically used as a sugar substitute and is ubiquitous in processed foods and beverages, including soft drinks, yogurt, industrial bread, cookies, salad dressing, and tomato soup.

Hmmmm... "industrial bread" ... it seems like we've talked about that before.  As well as processed tomato (or any kind of) soup.  OK- so what does this all mean?  Basically HFCS is a genetically engineered sugar substitute.  So what? Whats the big deal- so is Sweet 'N Low. (Which is a whole different topic, as well as all of the other "sugar substitutes.") And not to mention many studies have actually found Mercury in HFCS.  Scary.

So how much of this stuff do we actually make each year? And even more importantly how much do we consume?  According to The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals  is the most valuable food product refined from corn, accounting for 530 million bushels every year (17.5 billion pounds of HFCS).  

Pollan also said that since 1985, an American's annual consumption of HFCS has gone from forty-five pounds to sixty-six pounds.  Now you would think that its only because Americans have stopped consuming less regular sugar and more HFCS.  Wrong.  Pollan went on to say that during the same period our consumption of refined sugar actually went up by five pounds.    In fact, since 1985 our consumption of all added sugars- cane, beet, HFCS, glucose, honey, maple syrup, whatever- has climbed from 128 pounds to 158 pounds per person. Thats a jump of 30 pounds of sugar per person per year!!!!   

So now that we know what it is and how much we take in- lets talk about what it does to our bodies.  Just a few of the side effects linked to HFCS include (but are not limited to): obesity, diabetes, liver problems, cancer...  (and many more).  According to healthmad.com:

"When HFCS is ingested, it travels straight to the liver which turns the sugary liquid into fat, and unlike other carbohydrates HFCS does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin; which acts as a hunger quenching signal to the brain. So we get stuck in a vicious cycle, eating food that gets immediately stored as fat and never feeling full." 

Umm I hate to tell you but your soda just ruined your diet.  

So what exactly is HFCS in?  Here's a short list:  

soda 

industrial bread 

basically everything made from Kellogg's (yes Special K is included) 

Lifesavers

Heinz Ketchup 

PowerBars

PopTarts

Nabisco cookies

Nutri-Grain cereal bars (bummer, I know)

most cough syrups 

(every type of Robitussin)

Vicks Nyquil

Nabisco Ritz crackers

Wheat Thins!

Yoplait Yogurt

some brands of pickles

almost every brand of ice cream

syrup

jelly

almost every type of sauce including BBQ

Oscar Meyer lunchables

.... I could literally go on forever. 

Oh and soup.  

Here is a site to find HFCS in your favorite fast food restaurants. 

http://www.foodfacts.info/high-fructose-corn-syrup.shtml

So basically what I am getting at is that HFCS is not something that we should be putting in our bodies- EVER! There is no need for it and there are lots of healthy alternatives.  Take the time to read the labels and find products with no HFCS in them.  It will only make you hungrier sooner- and increase your chances of all of those terrible diseases.  


Also- go through your cabinets right now and I promise you will be shocked at all of the items that contain HFCS.  This decision to eliminate HFCS from our diets is something that we need to do for ourselves and for our families.  Eating less processed foods (which is exactly what HFCS is) should be our first goal in living a healthy lifestyle.  

A great website for more information is http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=105026.