HFCS Making Us Fat and Sick

Tags: Sugar Consumption Increased 50% Since Reagan Made Corn Cheap, Fructose, Prepared Foods, Fat, Sick, high BP, Uric Acid,

USA Sugar 10.6% of All Calories 1977-1978 and 1999-2006 15.8% (21.4 Teaspoons, 359 calories) Reagan's Fault?

This journal article was probably submitted before the Princeton study showing that equal calories of HFCS High Fructose Corn Syrup which is 55% Fructose and 45% glucose and cane sugar 50:50 fructose and glucose. Why did this apparently small change make such a difference in our health?

Reagan wanted to greatly increase the profits of large corporations involved in food production so the farmers got subsidies greater than the cost of producing, but so much corn was produced to keep prices low so the farmers had to produce lots of corn to get enough to feed their families! So the large corporations were able to sell corn worldwide and put local farmers out of business.

Cane sugar could not be added to fiberless foods in high amounts because it tended to crystallize out on freezing or standing. Liquid High Fructose Corn Syrup which is sweeter than glucose and sucrose, could be added in any amount to prepared foods without crystallizing. So they did not have to worry about making the taste good from tasteless corn and soybean, but just added HFCS.

Fructose does not convert to glucose in our blood and has to be processed by our liver. There part of it is converted to glucose which is stored as glycogen to be used as needed for energy, but 30 percent are converted to low density lipoproteins or the bad heavy LDL-2 which leads to plaques in our arteries.

Fructose also increases our triglycerides which leads to heart disease. If this was not enough, it also produces uric acid which acidifies our blood and gives us gout and high blood pressure independent of salt. Note salt does increase our blood pressure when used in excess, but salt also works by another mechanism to thicken our heart which leads to congestive heart disease.

We are the only ones that can change this. Complain to our political leaders, to newspapers, and to the food producers themselves. Already Coke and Pepsi have removed their colas from the school vending machines which Oregon did first and greatly improved the health of the students at a young impressionable age. Jaime a chef on ABC on Friday at 9:00 PM is trying to change the food habits of Americans starting with the most obese town in the USA, Huntington, West Virginia. Almost everyone has family members who died from diseases due to obesity.

With our government health department calling french fries vegetables, you can imagine how difficult it is. I will check him out on Friday and record Bill Moyers whose programs have been outstanding on PBS.

Jim Kawakami, April 22, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

ScienceDaily (Apr. 22, 2010) — Consuming a higher amount of added sugars in processed or prepared foods is associated with lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, the "good cholesterol") and higher levels of triglycerides, which are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease, according to a study in the April 21 issue of JAMA.

Jean A. Welsh, M.P.H., R.N., of Emory University, Atlanta, and colleagues assessed the association between consumption of added sugars and blood lipid levels in U.S. adults. The study included 6,113 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006. Respondents were grouped by intake of added sugars using limits specified in dietary recommendations (less than 5 percent of total calories [reference group], 5 percent to less than 10 percent, 10 percent to less than 17.5 percent, 17.5 percent to less than 25 percent, and 25 percent or more of total calories).

"In the United States, total consumption of sugar has increased substantially in recent decades, largely owing to an increased intake of 'added sugars,' defined as caloric sweeteners used by the food industry and consumers as ingredients in processed or prepared foods to increase the desirability of these foods," the authors write. No known studies have examined the association between the consumption of added sugars and lipid measures, such as HDL-C, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

Various measures calculated in the study included average HDL-C, average triglycerides, and average LDL-C levels and adjusted odds ratios of dyslipidemia (abnormal amounts of lipids and lipoproteins in the blood), including low HDL-C levels (less than 40 mg/dL for men; less than 50 mg/dL for women), high triglyceride levels (150 mg/dL or greater), high LDL-C levels (130 mg/dL or greater), or high ratio of triglycerides to HDL-C (greater than 3.8). Results were weighted to be representative of the U.S. population. ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420161748.htm