How Do Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners Affect Your Health?
One of the best arguments I can think of for not buying commercially processed food is SUGAR. Sugar, in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is in about 80% of commercially processed food. Even foods you don’t consider sweet. Food manufacturers love it. HFCS is cheaper than regular sugar. Bigger profit margins! It acts as a preservative to give foods a longer shelf life. More profit! HFCS keeps breads softer. Read labels and you may be startled to learn how many things contain HFCS. Corn growers will argue that HFCS is just sugar. You’ve seen the recent commercials. They tell you it is safe, when eaten responsibly. IT IS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF PRACTICALLY EVERY PRODUCT ON THE SUPERMARKET SHELF! HOW RESPONSIBLE IS THAT!? Sorry. Don’t mean to rant. Bought a Twinkie lately? Leave it unopened in the package for a period of time, say…15 years. It will be just as pristine! It is a veritable smorgasbord of tasty chemicals including HFCS and hydrogenated fat. So what can be wrong with high fructose corn syrup? Let me count the ways…. Most corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn. (See “Ingredients” for more on this.) It then goes through a series of processes where it is further refined by genetically modified enzymes until the balance of sugars is higher in fructose than glucose. It’s quite a process, really. Okay, so what? Except for the GM part, that is. Glucose is pure energy. It is utilized and metabolized by virtually every cell in your body. If you get an overload, a healthy pancreas produces insulin to help metabolize it. That’s a good thing. Read Diabetes Health to learn more about the importance of managing your blood glucose. Fructose, on the other hand, is metabolized by the liver and turned into fat cells and triglycerides. The pancreas never sees it. It does not stimulate insulin production. That’s not a good thing, unless you’re a diabetic trying to control your insulin. It has been shown to overload the liver in rats and cause severe liver damage. Cirrhosis anyone? It is in most soft drinks. There is an equivalent of 15 ounces of high fructose corn syrup in the average two liter bottle of soda. There are between 13-15 teaspoons per 12 ounce can. Think fruit drinks are better? Make sure the label reads 100% juice otherwise you are probably getting juice with HFCS added. Better yet, eat a piece of fruit so you are getting other nutrients and enzymes, as well as fiber. Even 100% juice has natural fructose since fructose is fruit(fruct)sugar(ose). Apparently fruits grown today do not have enough natural sugar to be sweet enough—or, have we just gotten so used to sickeningly sweet sodas that we “need” sugar added to please our taste buds? Here’s a taste test. Take a bite out of a conventionally grown apple. How does it taste? Now bite into an organically grown apple. Hmm. Taste the difference. Could that be the reason we feel the need for added sweetness to fruit juice? Boy, I ask a lot of questions! Children deficient in copper who consume too much fructose will fail to form adequate elastin and collagen, the stuff of which muscle is made. Copper deficiency is very common with today’s unhealthy diets. Our kids are soft---and obese! Look at any schoolyard. If HFCS is in 80%+ of what we consume, no wonder over 30% of the US population is clinically grossly obese (medical term, not mine). So, if HFCS is so bad for you, think you should use artificial sweeteners? Let’s briefly examine them. A balanced diet will give you all the sugar your body needs. I don’t know or claim to understand much of the science behind a lot of this information. I have tried, to the best of my limited ability, to simplify the information I have found so that the average person can understand it. Use the information at your own discretion. This is in no way a diagnosis or prescription to cure any symptoms you may have. It is purely for information and entertainment purposes. It is designed to make you ponder what goes into your body. If you are using any of these artificial sweeteners and having unexplained symptoms, you may wish to talk to your health care professional about a trial period without them. If you must avoid sugar for health reasons, try stevia or xylitol. You will find them at your local natural or health food store. If you’re thirsty, drink pure water! Avoid sodas.
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