Still a Killer on the Cob

Back in 2006, we wrote and article called “A Killer on the Cob” which concluded that high fructose corn syrup is not and was never the same as regular table sugar – sucrose. Eight years later, high fructose corn syrup, is ubiquitous in our food supply from soda pop to pickles and from pancake syrup to fruit juices to bread, it’s in almost everything. Our contention was that it is no coincidence that the rise in the number of overweight individuals and the significant rise in type two diabetes, was no coincidence. In fact a direct correlation can be drawn between the use of high fructose corn syrup in the American food supply in the 1970’s and the rise in obesity and type two diabetes.

As it turns out, more and more studies are proving what we said back in 2006 in our essay “A Killer on the Cob” yet the companies who are making fortunes manufacturing and selling high fructose corn syrup have spent so much money on faux studies and obfuscating the real facts about and the dangers of HFCS, that eight years after we wrote our article, HFCS still pervades the American diet. A great percentage of processed foods contain some HFCS, and other products like soda (Coke, Pepsi, Root Beer, et. al.) are swimming in it.

We happened upon a study done Princeton University in 2010, which, unfortunately remains obscure that  proves, if nothing else, that HFCS and common table sugar (sucrose) are not the same and are not metabolized by the body in the same way.

You’d think by now there would be an outrage over the use of  HFCS in food products, but there is more HFCS being used today than in 2006 when we wrote the article. HFCS is banned in some countries and used sparingly in others; why? If “sugar is sugar” like so many claim then why isn’t HFCS used in food products all over the world — after all, it’s much cheaper than table sugar.

The corn industry is a powerful force and the companies which make HFCS have tons of money to lobby senators and congressmen and congresswomen, and to fund so-called “studies” to prove to prove that HFCS and table sugar are processed identically by the human body.

We think the rise in obesity and type two diabetes in the United States began in the 70’s when HFCS was introduced in a significant way into our food supply – with the government’s blessing.

It’s too bad that our government’s policies are fueled and unduly influence by the money of corn industry and HFCS-manufacturers lobbyists. The powerful and the wealthy keep making sure our country remains ignorant about the dangers of HFCS in our food supply and obfuscating the truth about high fructose corn syrup.

Here’s just one scientific study done by Princeton University in 2010 from which you can draw only one conclusion: HFCS and table sugar are not the same, no matter what the U.S. government or our FDA would like us to believe. The tariffs on sugar are artificially high and the subsidies paid to corporate farms which grow the majority of corn used to make HFCS are equally high. There’s only one reason for this — to keep HFCS flowing into our food supply and to make sure common table sugar never replaces it. Ever wonder why sugar has such a bad reputation? We bet your grandmother and grandfather ate a lot of table sugar – in jellies, jams, pies, cakes, cookies; we’ll bet that the majority of them were not obese nor did they have type two diabetes.

What tipped the American scale and made us sicker? Can you doubt that HFCS played a significant role?

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

 Posted March 22, 2010; 10:00 a.m. by Hilary Parker

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professorBart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”

In results published online Feb. 26 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.

The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.

The second experiment — the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals — monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet.

Read the rest of the Princeton University article here.