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5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You
How can the CRA claim this is natural?
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” Or kill them trying. “Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency. ”
And the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has scrambled to use media and medical expert opinion (mis-quoted) to convince Americans that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is natural, the same as cane sugar, and fine in moderation. But, never before have we seen such a spike in obesity and diabetes rates. Even in “moderation,” impossible to achieve since HFCS is in so many food items, it leads to heart disease, liver problems, obesity, tooth decay, and feeds cancer cells.
The corn industry must now question the health claims in order to stir up confusion, a deviant technique to murk up and deflect the truth. They attempt to support their claims by misquoting medical professionals who are actually fighting against HFCS and don’t want their patients to consume it! They hide the true process of its production – mercury anyone?
If you run into naysayers who stifle your concerns using the same three CRA spewed out points, give them 5 sweet surprises in return!
~Health Freedoms
IF YOU CAN’T CONVINCE THEM, CONFUSE THEM. —Harry Truman
The current media debate about the benefits (or lack of harm) of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in our diet misses the obvious. The average American increased their consumption of HFCS (mostly from sugar sweetened drinks and processed food) from zero to over 60 pounds per person per year. During that time period, obesity rates have more than tripled and diabetes incidence has increased more than seven fold. Not perhaps the only cause, but a fact that cannot be ignored.
Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency. These are used skillfully through massive print and television advertising campaigns by the Corn Refiners Association’s attempt to dispel the “myth” that HFCS is harmful and assert through the opinion of “medical and nutrition experts” that it is no different than cane sugar. It is a “natural” product that is a healthy part of our diet when used in moderation.
Except for one problem. When used in moderation it is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay and more.
Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?
The Lengths the Corn Industry Will Go To
The goal of the corn industry is to call into question any claim of harm from consuming high fructose corn syrup, and to confuse and deflect by calling their product natural “corn sugar”. That’s like calling tobacco in cigarettes natural herbal medicine. Watch the slick ad where a caring father walks hand in hand with his four-year-old daughter through a big question mark carved in an idyllic cornfield.
In the ad, the father tells us:
“Like any parent I have questions about the food my daughter eats – like high fructose corn syrup. So I started looking for answers from medical and nutrition experts, and what I discovered whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar. Knowing that makes me feel better about what she eats and that’s one less thing to worry about.”
Physicians are also targeted directly. I received a 12-page color glossy monograph from the Corn Refiners Association reviewing the “science” that HFCS was safe and no different than cane sugar. I assume the other 700,000 physicians in America received the same propaganda at who knows what cost.
In addition to this, I received a special “personal” letter from the Corn Refiner’s Association outlining every mention of the problems with HCFS in our diet – whether in print, blogs, books, radio or television. They warned me of the errors of my ways and put me on “notice”. For what I am not sure. To think they are tracking this (and me) that closely gives me an Orwellian chill.
New websites like www.sweetsurprise.com and www.cornsugar.com help “set us straight” about HFCS with quotes from professors of nutrition and medicine and thought leaders from Harvard and other stellar institutions.
Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?
But are these twisted sweet lies or a sweet surprise, as the Corn Refiners Association websites claim?
What the Science Says about HFCS
Let’s examine the science and insert some common sense into the conversation. These facts may indeed come as a sweet surprise. The ads suggest getting your nutrition advice from your doctor (who, unfortunately, probably knows less about nutrition than most grandmothers). Having studied this for over a decade, and having read, interviewed or personally talked with most of the “medical and nutrition experts” used to bolster the claim that “corn sugar” and cane sugar are essentially the same, quite a different picture emerges and the role of HCFS in promoting obesity, disease and death across the globe becomes clear.
Last week over lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames, one of the foremost nutritional scientists in the world and Dr. Jeffrey Bland, a nutritional biochemist, a student of Linus Pauling and I reviewed the existing science, and Dr. Ames shared shocking new evidence from his research center on how HFCS can trigger body-wide inflammation and obesity.
Here are 5 reasons you should stay way from any product containing high fructose corn syrup and why it may kill you.
1. Sugar in any form causes obesity and disease when consumed in pharmacologic doses.
Cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup are indeed both harmful when consumed in pharmacologic doses of 140 pounds per person per year. When one 20 ounce HFCS sweetened soda, sports drink or tea has 17 teaspoons of sugar (and the average teenager often consumes two drinks a day) we are conducting a largely uncontrolled experiment on the human species. Our hunter gather ancestors consumed the equivalent of 20 teaspoons per year, not per day. In this sense, I would agree with the corn industry that sugar is sugar. Quantity matters. But there are some important differences.
2. HFCS and cane sugar are NOT biochemically identical or processed the same way by the body.
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.
Some basic biochemistry will help you understand this. Regular cane sugar (sucrose) is made of two-sugar molecules bound tightly together – glucose and fructose in equal amounts. The enzymes in your digestive tract must break down the sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body.
HFCS also consists of glucose and fructose, not in a 50-50 ratio, but a 55-45 fructose to glucose ratio in an unbound form. Fructose is sweeter than glucose. And HCFS is cheaper than sugar because of the government farm bill corn subsidies. Products with HFCS are sweeter and cheaper than products made with cane sugar. This allowed for the average soda size to balloon from 8 ounces to 20 ounces with little financial costs to manufacturers but great human costs of increased obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.
Now back to biochemistry. Since there is there is no chemical bond between them, no digestion is required so they are more rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol) this is why it is the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver” which affects 70 million people. The rapidly absorbed glucose triggers big spikes in insulin – our body’s major fat storage hormone. Both these features of HFCS lead to increased metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia and more.
But there was one more thing I learned during lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames. Research done by his group at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute found that free fructose from HFCS requires more energy to be absorbed by the gut and soaks up two phosphorous molecules from ATP (our body’s energy source). This depletes the energy fuel source or ATP in our gut required to maintain the integrity of our intestinal lining. Little “tight junctions” cement each intestinal cell together preventing food and bacteria from “leaking” across the intestinal membrane and triggering an immune reaction and body wide inflammation.
High doses of free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your blood stream and trigger the inflammation that we know is at the root of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia and accelerated aging. Naturally occurring fructose in fruit is part of a complex of nutrients and fiber that doesn’t exhibit the same biological effects as the free high fructose doses found in “corn sugar”.
The takeaway: Cane sugar and the industrially produced, euphemistically named “corn sugar” are not biochemically or physiologically the same.
3. HFCS contains contaminants including mercury that are not regulated or measured by the FDA
An FDA researcher asked corn producers to ship a barrel of high fructose corn syrup in order to test for contaminants. Her repeated requests were refused until she claimed she represented a newly created soft drink company. She was then promptly shipped a big vat of HFCS that was used as part of the study that showed that HFCS often contains toxic levels of mercury because of chlor-alkali products used in its manufacturing.(i) Poisoned sugar is certainly not “natural”.
When HFCS is run through a chemical analyzer or a chromatograph, strange chemical peaks show up that are not glucose or fructose. What are they? Who knows? This certainly calls into question the purity of this processed form of super sugar. The exact nature, effects and toxicity of these funny compounds have not been fully explained, but shouldn’t we be protected from the presence of untested chemical compounds in our food supply, especially when the contaminated food product comprises up to 15-20 percent of the average American’s daily calorie intake?
4. Independent medical and nutrition experts DO NOT support the use of HCFS in our diet, despite the assertions of the corn industry.
The corn industry’s happy looking websites www.cornsugar.com and www.sweetsurprise.com bolster their position that cane sugar and corn sugar are the same by quoting experts, or should we say mis-quoting …
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has published widely on the dangers of sugar-sweetened drinks and their contribution to the obesity epidemic. In a review of HFCS in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,(ii) he explains the mechanism by which the free fructose may contribute to obesity. He states that:
“The digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fructose differ from those of glucose. Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo lipogenesis [production of fat in the liver]. In addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight [to control appetite], this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy intake and weight gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages may enhance caloric overconsumption.”
He states that HFCS is absorbed more rapidly than regular sugar, and that it doesn’t stimulate insulin or leptin production. This prevents you from triggering the body’s signals for being full and may lead to overconsumption of total calories.
He concludes by saying that:
“… the increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.”
The corn industry takes his comments out of context to support their position. “All sugar you eat is the same.”
True pharmacologic doses of any kind of sugar are harmful, but the biochemistry of different kinds of sugar and their respective effects on absorption, appetite and metabolism are different, and Dr. Popkin knows that.
David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and a personal friend has published extensively on the dangers and the obesogenic properties of sugar-sweetened beverages. He was quoted as saying that“high fructose corn syrup is one of the most misunderstood products in the food industry.” When I asked him why he supported the corn industry, he told me he didn’t and that his comments were taken totally out of context.
Misrepresenting science is one thing, misrepresenting scientists who have been at the forefront of the fight against obesity and high fructose sugar sweetened beverages is quite another.
5. HCFS is almost always a marker of poor-quality, nutrient-poor disease creating industrial food products or “food-like substances”.
The last reason to avoid products that contain HFCS is that they are a marker for poor-quality, nutritionally depleted, processed industrial food full of empty calories and artificial ingredients. If you find “high fructose corn syrup” on the label you can be sure it is not a whole, real, fresh food full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants. Stay away if you want to stay healthy. We still must reduce our overall consumption of sugar, but with this one simple dietary change you can radically reduce your health risks and improve your health.
While debate may rage about the biochemistry and physiology of cane sugar vs. corn sugar, this is in fact beside the point (despite the finer points of my scientific analysis above). The conversation has been diverted to a simple assertion that cane sugar and corn sugar are not different.
The real issues are only two.
- We are consuming HFCS and sugar in pharmacologic quantities never before experienced in human history — 140 pounds a year vs. 20 teaspoons a year 10,000 years ago.
- High fructose corn syrup is always found in very poor quality foods that are nutritionally vacuous and filled with all sorts of other disease promoting compounds, fats, salt, chemicals and even mercury.
These critical ideas should be the heart of the national conversation, not the meaningless confusing ads and statements by the corn industry in the media and online that attempt to assure the public that the biochemistry of real sugar and industrially produced sugar from corn are the same.
Know I’d like to hear from you …
Do you think there is an association between the introduction of HFCS in our diet and the obesity epidemic?
What reason do you think the Corn Refiners Association has for running such ads and publishing websites like those listed in this article?
What do you think of the science presented here and the general effects of HFCS on the American diet?
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) Dufault, R., LeBlanc, B., Schnoll, R. et al. 2009. Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: Measured concentrations in food product sugar. Environ Health. 26(8):2.
(ii) Bray, G.A., Nielsen, S.J., and B.M. Popkin. 2004. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr.79(4):537-43. Review.
Source:
http://drhyman.com/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you-5050/
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Of course there is a direct correlation between the obesity epidemic and high fructose corn syrup. The fact that HFCS is contaminated with mercury reminds me of the expose around 1969 that toothbrush manufacturers were using mercury in the toothbrush bristles. As Dr. Hyman knows, mercury exposure can have very detrimental and disastrous consequences for human health. The insanity of having unknown and untested ingredients added to our food supply is not only endangering our national health, but it is a crime against humanity. We must return to a food supply that our great grandparents would recognize. To do otherwise is to jeopardize the entire human race. The fact that 95% of America’s food supply is already poisoned foretells disaster for American civilization. My mother always taught me that the Roman Empire was destroyed by lead in the pipes carrying the water. And that was only one element. At this current time, there are over 60,000 chemicals in our food supply that humanity has never before been exposed to. People who would subject the population to substances with unknown effects for the sake of profit belong in prison and must be fought at every turn. The more the public understands what is at stake, the better our chances will be to survive as a species, as a nation, and as a civilization.
Another – mostly unspoken – factor in using corn for corn sweetener, as well as for ethanol, for animal feed, or for any other purpose, is that corn must be used only to feed humans in a world which is crying for enough food as we face a time of increasing shortages. To do otherwise is completely inhumane – and something I do not wish to be a part of. According to the film “Food, Inc.” there is no corn which can be eaten off the stalk grown in the entire state of Iowa, the greatest producer of corn in the world. Starving people the world over can only benefit for each stalk of corn we are able to convert to good edible food instead of poison corn sweetener, hog and cow feed, ethanol, and any other use. The more the public can be alerted in this fight to what is actually at stake, the more lives that can be saved!
I would like to thank Dr. Hyman for the wonderful work he is doing in the field of human health. I personally have benefited from his book “The UltraMind Solution” and have recommended it to many people. Dr. Hyman and Dr. Oz, who wrote the forward to the book and who enlightens millions of people with his TV show, are revolutionizing the public’s understanding of what is required to achieve good health. Both these doctors should be nominated and awarded a Nobel Prize; even if they are not – and even more importantly – they are taking away people’s pain and building a storehouse of bounty in heaven. You and doctors like you are a blessing to humanity.
I totally agree with your treatise and plan to share it. I used to occasionally have a root beer float, but since having a cancer dx in 2008 I have not touched any kind of soda, and of course I eat about 90% organic food which does not contain hfcs. Between hfcs and GM food, there is strong evidence that someone [I wonder who?] is trying to make us sick.
Dr. Hyman,
I want to thank and commend you for clarifying this issue in a way so that everyone can truly understand what HFCS is doing to our bodies, as well as our children’s bodies.
I am nutritional consultant and mother of 3, and am currently writing a book entitled, How to Get Your Kids Off Junk Food, where I address the devastating affects of HFCS and the fact that it is in EVERYTHING our children eat.
I follow your work very closely and greatly admire and respect all you have accomplished in educating people on functional and holistic medicine.
I have recently formed a coalition with other authors and activists in this field, like Beth Lambert and Robyn O’Brien, called “Moms on a Mission” to address this national epidemic of our children’s health, and we have established a National Children’s Health Day for September 19th, 2011.
We would love your support, so keep on the lookout for us as we start to promote in the media this summer.
Best,
Gabrielle
This is a great article and I am passing this on to my friends and family with special emphasis on families with children.
I am amazed at how the food industry attempts to deceive us and unfortunatly, it will work in many cases.
Thank you for giving us the truth.
Thank you for more information on this widely used sweetner. It is wonderful to see the juice market and other food products responding to the concern of many health conscious consumers with a change in recipe and the flag on the label “no high fructose corn syrup” – yeah, more healthy choices.
Because HFCS can contribute to obesity, does not mean all fatness is caused by it. I am getting a little tired of the killer fat BS. Old fashioned fat people lived long and healthy lives. There is a genetic component to body size as well. Some modern types of obesity can be a side effect of metabolic changes as a result of HFCS and many other things. But it should be made clear it is not obesity itself which is dangerous but its root cause. Your exploiting of the anitfat hysteria leads the public to believe if they don’t get fat or lose weight all will be well. It won’t! And there are many fat people on natural diets NOT at risk, they don’t deserve the unhealthy rap!!!
Thank you for the well written article, however, you left out several references and citations for people to get more information. I have a newly minted (2011) Masters degree in molecular and cellular biology and have taken graduate school courses in toxicology as well as human anatomy, physiology, and neurobiology. I recently wrote a graduate level paper on this very issue and I can tell you there is alot of information out there for those looking. (A simple search on google scholar, pubmed, nih.gov, lexisnexxus, or any other academic engine will yield hundreds to thousands of articles depending on phrasing.) This is a good review for those who may be overwhelmed by information or unable to get through dense and sometimes poorly written scientific papers. I do however, being a pragmatic person, prefer to do my own research and agree whole heartedly with your conclusions. For those brave enough, please do read at least a few scientific articles with a critical eye as it is crucial to your own self education on how to read and evaluate these papers to come to your own conclusions. Learning to this is well worth the time invested as it will give you a lifetime ability to discriminate the good from the bad, ugly, and just plain wrong. Unfortunately, as pointed out in this article, frequently scientists and science is taken out of context by those with a profit motive and is also frequently conducted or supported by private corportations with financial interests as well. The point here is buyer beware- look who wrote the article, what money supported it, who lent the testing materials and what exactly they were, how was the experiment constructed, what questions is it really looking to answer, what is the quality of the data, and finally in the results and discussion was the author/scientist fair, balanced, critical, and honest in their summary. This is something that all good scientists and doctors know how to do and so should you. All of these things are important indicators to the validity and quality of the study- here’s an example: Milk Association X wants to promote more milk drinking as profits have recently decreased due to decling sales so they contact a willing research department(yes this happens all the time) to do a study on the “health benefits” of drinking 4 glasses of cow’s milk per day. This may not be unreasonable you think, but a, is it misleading in its intent (research should NEVER BE BOUGHT) and pulls into question the validity of its results and b, is limited in scope to the question of only health benefits- what about the possible harmful side effects? Could telling peolple to simply “drink four” (instead of normal 3) glasses without indicating type (i.e. skim, etc) be taken out of context or used as an excuse to make mindless mandates (hello food pyramid)? An example of this botched thinking is feeding children flavored, highly sugared milk because they need “the calcium and nutrients”- just like the LAUSD in Food Revolution. It’s all a load of nonsense- for less calories, more nutritional value, other solutions can be had- unflavored milks, dark leafy greens, and other options. As a scientist who is also planning on becoming an MD and researched medical school curriculum I can tell you I have a better and more current education in biochemistry and nutrition than doctors graduating today, let alone those who have graduated in years past. I can also tell you both professionally and personally that most doctors (note here MDs) also have no training in homeopathic, herbal, or any alternative medicine unless they are driven enough to seek it themselves on the side. This is a shame as many people are tired of “conventional” medicine and go on their own to a health food store with no knowledge of what they are doing. Unfortunately, this all leads to my conclusion of do some of your own research if you can and if not, choose to read with a critical perspective from well regarded, research driven publications and websites that will do what you cannot to get the information you need to make the best choices for you and your family. In today’s day and age of over-information that essentially rehashes limited themes in limited depth, I encourage you to keep reading articles like this one and to do your own research and thinking too. Well wishings and blessings of good health and fortune to all.
Thank you for continuing to provide us with timely nutritional information. The lengths big corporations will go to to deceive the geenral population in order to fatten their bottom line (no pun intended) continue to astound and anger me.
Now on to facebook with this article!
I am from Iowa and I am not so popular among any group, you know I could be quiet and let everyone just be happy but here I go again trying to teach them about some big company and how they don’t care if they die as long as they make money. My reps in dc do not like me I’m praying for their repentance and have told them this, along with sending your petitions, my letters,other petitions so many ways to get the message to them about the fact that we do know what science is and that they are in violation of just good sense like not putting genetically modified food into the system without world wide long term research and not using us for guinea pigs you know only liverloaf is the only cold cut that doesn’t have hfcs or modified soy protein and not one hotdog is without the soy I like liverloaf but know also the cattle were fed gmo products so now I need to learn to make bologna and such mayonaisse I stand in the store tlking out loud and questioning and informing the employees and anyone willing to listen to a public conversation with myself if I am the only one concerned and the people around me think I’m the crazy one but sound does make an impression in the brain along with sight you are not the only ones in this fight for peoples thought process big companies fewer people have tvs in their homes for a reason now I have soapboxes everywhere.
Thank you for the details about HFC.
Please also consider writing an article about a related issue and sweetener, raw organic “agave syrup”. I started using it when it became
popular but noticed every time I used it (raw and organic) I just felt
really strange afterwards like I had eaten sugar or something similar.
I finally realized agave was not healthy as the literature and mass marketing compaigns would state and I gratefully stopped using it.
Even when raw and organic I have read it is as much as 85% fructose.
Many people are using it in place of sugar thinking it is healthy,
MANY organic food manufacturers are using it in prepared products
including sooo many raw food snack companies.
I should also mention the extremely heavy use of Canola oil by almost every food manufacturer and restaurants in the past few years. Another product heavily marketed as ‘natural’ but anything but…its’ an unnatural hybrid from the rape seed plant and it made cows sick when fed to them….namaste’, rachel
Certainly there has to be a connection with the obesity/metabolic syndrome epidemic and HFCS, however, there are many other contributing factors I believe. Monosodium glutamate and aspartame have both been shown to effect insulin and metabolism. In fact, MSG is sure way to fatten up mice for obesity studies. Add to that the proliferation of processed foods, endocrine disrupters and off the charts carbohydrate consumption.
I will say that back in the 70′s Americans were much thiner and obesity was nothing like it is today. Therefore, the advent of our weight issues really do seem to coincide with the HFCS era.
Bottom line is that we have allowed the food production giants to turn us into consumer drones that support a greed, greater than this planet has yet encountered. Has anyone noticed how big agro/pharma etc, are starting to bully those in their path? It’s scary, like, the don’t need the FDA or some other corrupt regulatory bozo to do the pushing and shoving. They are starting to strap on their own jack boots. Anyone smell absolute power?
I am sick of the deception…just give us the truth…
The reason the corn industry is fighting back with big buck promotional gimmicks and falsified stories is because the public is starting to wake up to their treachery and they are losing sales. I offer as proof to this how a few soda pop manufacturers have switched back to real sugar and are using this as a basis for their advertising campaigns, with great success too I might add. I have heard that HFCS is already pretty much history in Europe as the Europeans have been educated to a large degree to the dangers of this chemical offal. The power to stop this danger is in the hands of the consumers, as it should be. We just need to get the word out to more Americans and HFCS will “go the way of the crippled crow!” Getting the Corruptocrats in Washington to pull the subsities to the corn growers would help too.
I have no doubt that HFCS has played and continues to play a huge role in chronic disease in this country, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes,high blood pressure, and possibly others. The reason for the disinformation campaign is simple: GREED!!!
About 10 years ago I began to face severe joint pains that are quickly triggered or worsened by certain foods & additives. Neurotoxic MSG, Artif Sweeteners, esp neurotoxic Aspartame, White Sugar, Wheat, Shellfish, & several other gout forming foods can set off a real episode of joint inflammation & pains. Mention of gout foods is here bc of my gout symptoms that happen IMMEDIATELY with intake of high uric acid & high oxalic acid yielding foods. I want to take this opportunity to reapeat that the SEVERELY PAINFUL Joint Pains AND SWELLING can be quickly triggered by intake of the culprit additives and/or high uric acid & high oxalic acid foods. It’s from FORMATION OF PAINFUL NEEDLE LIKE CRYSTALS !! I do use several healthy foods & food supplements to help MOVE OUT excess uric acid…also to help LESSEN formation of Painful Uric Acid NEEDLE LIKE CRYSTALS…& also to lessen Painful Oxalic Acid gravel type formations too- However, as much as it is a fulltime effort to stay on top of it or GET IT IN HAND when it’s triggered even with one meal or intake…I felt it necessary to post that I CAN even come back to balance WHITE SUGAR’s bad acid effects if I get on it quickly..just as I can sometimes correct “Milk” chocolate’s bad effects if I get on it quickly…BUT when it comes to Artif Sweeteners, MSG, & HFCS..it is TOO MUCH of a SEVERE UPSET with such HIGH URIC ACID HIKES..that intake of these means very LONG TIMES of not getting this under control. I do NOT have white sugar in our home b/c of this (though service to Cane Sugar growing & processing have been the source of our home’s income for the past 45 yrs). I only have RAW sugar (from the mill) & also DARK BROWN sugar (the dark sugar & dark cane syrup still has much mineral rich MOLASSES still in it (incl chromium..a glucose tolerance factor)- We also use Stevia (without Maltodextrin added)..& also Pure Maple Syrup which is (though not sugar free) a true mineral rich ALKALINE Sweetener just as Stevia (which IS naturally sugar free) a true alkaline sweetener also.
HFCS causes me IMMEDIATE EXTREMELY PAINFUL JOINT PAINS & SWELLING just as Artif Sweeteners & MSG do to me also. When I take in these additives I quickly appear CRIPPLED when the pains are so bad that I canNOT BEND MY FEET & my leg muscles painfully TIGHTEN UP shortly after eating the bad additives. The painful JOINT swelling from these additives also give me HOT SPOTS..as if FEVER is in the Joints b/c of the fast inflammatory situation. Watching my intakes or balancing (with healthy foods & food supplements to STOP formation of high uric acid from healthy FOODS…is not hard but the above mentioned BAD ADDITIVES spell EXTREME LONGTERM PAIN for me- It’s worth noting also that realizing how QUICKLY HFCS RAISES URIC ACID in MY body…other gout suffers as well as Migraine Sufferers & also so called Mental Patients prone to mania should take note of this…BECAUSE Older Psychiatrists used to tell manic patients (during times of manic episodes) to STOP OR LIMIT INTAKE OF WHEAT…in order to LOWER URIC ACID level in the body & BRAIN. Long ago, WHEAT WAS THE ONLY KNOWN High Uric Acid yielding food. The list is now MUCH LONGER..& includes SHELLFISH. The older psychiatrists knew that HIGH URIC ACID LEVELS not only give SOME GOUT symptoms..but also greatly affects the BRAIN & BEHAVIOR in many people. SO with this in mind…I would bet that HFCS is heavily contributing to worsened ADHD symptoms, ANXIETY, Out of Character Behavior, along with SCORES of other ailments including OBESITY. Please note that weight problems are a major part of GOUT problems..as obesity & fluid retention are TRULY a PART OF GOUT. Some foods I was avoiding (though NOT on the gout food list) that I “thought” gave me or worsened my JOINT PAINS..proved to be NOT CULPRIT FOODS at all..but instead were some which I ATE WITH KETCHUP that had HFCS in it. NOW I buy ONLY KETCHUP WITHOUT HFCS..& have had NO PROBLEMS with those foods. We now only buy breads that are labeled “No High Fructose Corn Syrup” just as is on SOME sizes of HUNTS Ketchup..& now Heinz has the NEW EXPENSIVE BIG BOTTLE (upside down) Ketchup with the little LIGHT BLUE mark on the (left) front label letting us know it is JUST HEINZ KETCHUP (meaning NO HFCS). Apparently Heinz HAD to put out a Ketchup HFCS FREE b/c of so many requesting the HUNTS labeled “NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP”. Since I’ve been avoiding HFCS as much as it is possible to do..my joint pains are SO IMPROVED..b/c I was already being so watchful of high uric acid food intakes (as I could balance those foods).. However.. there IS NO REAL WAY TO BALANCE THE BAD EFFECTS OF HFCS, MSG, & Artif Sweeteners (with MSG, Aspartame, & HFCS giving IMMEDIATE PAINFUL EFFECTS. I learned that the PAINFUL NEEDLELIKE CRYSTALS that form in the fast Uric Acid HIKES are believed to possibly FORM ALSO (not just in the joints) but IN the BRAIN ALSO of many Migraine Suffers. Fortunately I am not a HEADACHE person. Those people too often are given a LIST of Neurotoxic intakes to avoid..incl many BAD ADDITIVES. I HOPE HFCS is ON THAT LIST..b/c I AM prone to agree that possibly those SAME PAINFUL HIGH URIC ACID NEEDLE LIKE CRYSTALS as form in MY JOINTS could BE what creates so much pain for Migraine sufferers as some doctors now believe.
Thank you for such an informative and understandable article. Also the remarks from others re aspartame and canola oil, msg, etc. It IS getting mare difficult to find foods without these elements. I, too have been uncomfortable with agave. tried it once and returned to honey or sugar when needed. Again, thank you.
Thank you for the prima fascia basics. I will certainly minimize HFCS as I can see NO DOWNSIDE if following that option…
We recognize that moderation of sugar consumption is important. However, there are numerous factual and scientific errors contained in Dr. Hyman’s article. If facts are important to you, please see our response to “5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You” at http://blog.sweetsurprise.com/2011/06/08/5-reasonshighfructosecornsyrupwillkillyou
Therese, Corn Refiners