Not the Same

I found an article by Dr. Mark Hyman that I thought should be shared.  Dr. Hyman is a New York Times bestselling author and a doctor of functional medicine addressing the root causes of chronic illness.  The title of his article caught my eye as it was Five Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You.  While that’s certainly an attention-grabber, I was particularly interested because I spent some time with a sales rep. from one of the biggest High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) producers in the country at a wedding a few years ago.  I decided to ask him his side of the story and he somewhat defensively explained that corn syrup is “natural” and there was absolutely no health risks associated with HFCS that weren’t associated with regular sugar.  Unfortunately, Dr. Hyman’s research does not support this position.

Yes, it is true that sugar in any form can and will contribute to obesity and chronic disease.  Each sweetened soda, sports drink, or tea contains the equivalent of 12-17 teaspoons of sugar.  This adds up very quickly and will contribute to disease whether it’s in the form of HFCS or the real sugar.  A key difference of HFCS is that its molecular structure is different from regular sugar and that allows it to be absorbed into the blood stream more rapidly.  Furthermore, the fructose in it goes straight to the liver and triggers the fatty production of cholesterol and triglycerides.  Over time, this can cause fatty liver disease which afflicts 70 million people.  This phenomenon drives obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.  Dr. Hyman reports that high doses of free fructose in the gut have been proven to “punch holes in the intestinal lining allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria to enter your blood stream and trigger widespread inflammation” that we know is linked to so many diseases.  Even worse, some research has shown that HFCS is contaminated with mercury.  This is certainly not natural as mercury is considered toxic at any level and is associated with numerous neurological diseases.  Perhaps one of the biggest problems with HFCS is that it does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production as natural sugar is intended to do.  Insulin and leptin are regulators of food intake essential to controlling our appetite and weight.  Obviously, this dilemma leads to overconsumption and obesity.  The final warning that Dr. Hyman presents regarding high fructose corn syrup is that foods containing this ingredient are most likely fake, manufactured foods that are devoid of any other nutritional value as well.  He advises using HCFS as a red flag for foods to stay away from and making a habit of consuming only real food that truly is natural.

The sugar consumption in this country is out of control and directly responsible for much of our chronic disease and unnecessary suffering.  We have to recognize this and cut back.  However, I hope from these critical distinctions pointed out, you can see that even though it’s cheaper and reportedly safe, high fructose corn syrup is not natural and is indeed worse than regular sugar.  My challenge to you is to read all your labels and try to go two weeks without HFCS and see what happens.