Eating corn syrup, particularly high fructose corn syrup, can increase your weight and make you fat. High fructose corn syrup is the predominant sweetener manufacturers use for bakery products, sauces, salad dressings, lunch meats, and frozen and canned products. Consult your nutritionist about your weight and risks of eating corn syrup.
Chemical Characteristics
High fructose corn syrup differs in chemistry and produces more fat than sucrose, also called table sugar. High fructose corn syrup is a mixture of glucose and concentrations of 42, 55 or 90 percent fructose which your body can readily absorb, whereas sucrose is a disaccharide which your body must break down to its simple sugars. Research by scientists at the University of California in Davis and published in "Nutrition Reviews" in May 2005 reports the liver converts fructose into fat and causes obesity, plus fructose does not increase insulin or leptin, substances that induce satiety.
Biological Evidence
Research by scientists at Princeton University in New Jersey and published in "Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior" in November 2010 discovered that rats fed high fructose corn syrup gained significantly more body weight and abdominal fat than rats fed sucrose, even though both groups were fed equivalent total calories. All rats consuming high fructose corn syrup became obese, yet rats consuming sugar did not all gain weight. The scientists concluded that human consumption of high fructose corn syrup may cause obesity.
Consumption Trend
Manufacturers introduced high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s. By 2004, high fructose corn syrup represented over 40 percent of caloric food sweeteners and the sole caloric soft drink sweetener in the United States, according to research by scientists at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in April 2004. The scientists highlight the facts that between the 1970s and 2004 increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup mirrored an increased prevalence of obesity, suggesting high fructose corn syrup is associated with development of obesity.
Epidemiological Trend
Obesity prevalence in the United States was 14.5 percent in 1971, according to research by the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" in October 2002. Today over one-third of adults are obese, according to research by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" in 2010. Plus one in six children are obese, according to research by scientists at the Maternal and Child Health Bureau in Rockville, Maryland, and published in the "Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine" in 2010.
References
- The Corn Refiners Association; Sweeteners; 2011
- "Nutrition Reviews"; Dietary Fructose: Implications for Dysregulation of Energy Homeostasis and Lipid/Carbohydrate Metabolism; Peter J. Havel; May 2005
- "Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior"; High-Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Characteristics of Obesity in Rats: Increased Body Weight, Body Fat and Triglyceride Levels; Miriam Bocarsly, et al.; Nov 2010
- Princeton University; A Sweet Problem: Princeton Researchers Find That High-Fructose Corn Syrup Prompts Considerably More Weight Gain; Parker, H.; 2010
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Consumption of High-Fructose Corn Syrup in Beverages May Play a Role in the Epidemic of Obesity; George Bray, et al.; Apr 2004
- "Journal of the American Medical Association"; Prevalence and Trends in Obesity among Us Adults, 1999-2000; Katherine Flegal, et al.; Oct 9 2002
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