Debate About Dangers of High-Fructose Corn Syrup High-fructose corn syrup, which is now found in everything from soda to crackers to salad dressing, has been noted by many experts as a possible culprit in the obesity epidemic. Obesity rates since 1980, for instance, have risen at a rate similar to that of high-fructose corn syrup, and nutritionists often advise avoiding it. However, now some scientists are saying that there is no evidence linking high-fructose corn syrup to obesity, and theories that have emerged are based on misperceptions or coincidence. The corn syrup, some experts say, is no worse than refined white sugar, and even the two scientists who first opened the debate that the sweetener may be linked to obesity have backed off, saying their paper was just a "suggestion" for further study. The two scientists also neglected to raise the issue of high-fructose corn syrup at a panel developed to provide guidelines to consumers about nutritional risks and benefits of beverages. They felt singling out high-fructose corn syrup would be a distraction, when they wanted to focus on limiting beverages with sweeteners.
New York Times July 2, 2006 (Registration Required)
________________________________________ Dr. Mercola's Comment: The main expert they cite in this article, Dr. Bray, is one that I have used many times before on this topic and pointed to his classic study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition as the landmark review in this area. Here is a link to the free full-text article from April of 2004. I consulted with one of my good friends who is a pharmacologist and toxicologist, Russ Bianchi, managing director of Adept Solutions, Inc, a global food & beverage formulation firm in Soquel, CA. He is one of the brightest people I know in the sweetener industry and these are his comments: Willet and Popkin either do not understand that fructose from HFCS is NOT the same molecule that is in sucrose, or for that matter fruit leveulose, or are taking the latest Corn Lobby tactic of confusing the debate, intentionally, because they have sold out, through smoke and mirrors. Sucrose raises blood glucose and then crashes it, below fasting baseline, within 25 minutes of ingestions -- A FACT. HFCS or crystalline fructose or hydrolyzed fructose from insulin, convert to triglycerides and adipose tissue, within 60 minutes of ingestion, not blood glucose -- A FACT. The cheapest ingredient in the American food chain (profit factor) after air, water and salt is HFCS -- A FACT. MDs have no nutritional or metabolic training in med school -- A FACT. MDs have no methodology in their teaching to prevent, as opposed to only treat -- A FACT. Does HFCS significantly contribute to ill health in the U.S. food chain? Yes, follow the insurance companies scrambling in actuarial panic with a sudden and unexplained spike in heart attack death pay-outs among baby boomers ingesting too much HFCS and telling MDs to warn patients to get off soda and HFCS-laden prducts, for profit -- A FACT. Are Willet & Popkin liars? -- YES. Ask Willet why "sugar diabetes" is no longer a term in the medical lexicon. The answer is western medicine has known since 1924 sugar and refined sweeteners cause or trigger diabetes, yet the AMA cut 'sugar' out of the diabetes description in the early '60s because they knew they could make more money on treatment, not prevention or cure ... They have betrayed The Hippocratic Oath -- "First, Do No Harm ... "
Related Articles: Six Reasons Why Corn is Making You Fat Fructose is No Answer for a Sweetener More Problems with Fructose
I attended West Virginia University and graduated from Pennsylvania College of Optometry with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Doctor of Optometry degree.
