Justin Childers
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Nutri, Health & Wellness
Professor Himler
July 19th, 2014

“The Japanese first developed high fructose corn syrup. When they saw that it is more cost effective than other sugars, other companies started to use high fructose corn syrup in their products. High fructose corn syrup is a sugar made of 55% fructose and forty-five percent glucose Compared to normal table sugar, which is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, it doesn’t seem like much. Yet the fructose in high fructose corn syrup is less attached from normal sugar. This fructose that is free from the glucose part is more harmful to the body. It was first introduced in 1970 but it hasn’t been actively used until the late 1900s. Yet because we started to use high fructose corn syrup, it is now causing a lot of problems. It has many negative side effects after consumption, and most of the consuming is done in the United States. Two of the main problems caused by high fructose corn syrup are obesity and type II diabetes. Some of the other branches of these problems are liver and heart disease, osteoporosis, an increase in triglycerides, and many other kinds of health problems. Since high fructose corn syrup is very common in our daily diets, ranging for drinks to desserts, it is becoming a huge problem.” (Severson, K. 2004)
“One of the main problems of high fructose corn syrup is obesity. Eating high fructose corn syrup is like eating fat. Fructose isn’t absorbed the large intestine or the first part of the small intestine. Fructose is absorbed in the jejunum at a much higher rate than normal glucose. After it is absorbed, it goes to the liver, where it is converted to fatty acids. When someone consumes too much fructose, the liver is unable to convert all of it so it can be absorbed improperly. It can escape from urine and there can be diarrhea. There was a study of 25 patients who had bowel disease, which caused gastrointestinal distress, which might have been caused by malabsorbtion of fructose.” (Squires, S. 2003)
“Usually, normal sugar, or glucose increases the production of insulin in the pancreas. The insulin allows sugar to be transported from the blood into cells to be used as energy. Yet, high fructose corn syrup doesn’t cause the pancreas to make insulin. Insulin makes lepton, a hormone that regulates your appetite by decreasing it and increases your metabolism. Since fructose inhibits the lepton from doing its job, people feel that still have an appetite even though they have eaten a lot. Therefore people that consume high fructose corn syrup don’t get full. So the continue to eat, and eventually, they become obese.” (Severson, K.)
“Another major problem from eating high fructose corn syrup is type II diabetes. Type II diabetes doesn’t allow a person to correctly use glucose so they are unable to keep normal sugar levels. This is because the body is unable to make enough insulin, and is called insulin resistance. This increase of sugar in the blood is called high blood sugar and can lead to many other diseases like heart, kidney, and eye disease, and other health problems. Medication can help with type II diabetes, but the best way is to eat healthy, by not consuming high fructose corn syrup and exercising daily.” (Sanda, B.)
“High fructose corn syrup increases the levels of fat in the bloodstream in the form of triglycerides. Triglycerides are the chemical form of fat in the foods and the body. They form when calories aren’t used up immediately after eating. When you have too high amounts of triglyceride in the body, cholesterol levels will increase and people can get coronary artery disease. This increase of triglyceride is called hypertriglyceridemia.” (Triglycerides 2007)
“An over consumption of high fructose corn syrup leads to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease where the bones become weak and are easier to break. If it is untreated, it won’t be painful until a bone breaks. These broken bones, or