Cutting the Crap: High Fructose Corn Syrup

What is HFCS? It is usually a combination of about 50% fructose and 50% glucose. It is a cheaper additive for manufactured foods and has better shelf life than table sugar. It is not allowed in Organic Foods. (Which tells me the corn industry should stop referring to it as "natural" - because it's made from corn)

Why cut out HFCS?

The corn industry and the agave industry will tell you that fructose is great because it consumption doesn't increase insulin secretion, which puts you less prone to diabetes, that part may be true; however, what it fails to do is stimulate a different hormone called leptin. Leptin controls your hunger signals, and is linked to insulin release. If you don't have insulin responding to your sugars, you don't have leptin telling your body that you are no longer hungry. Therefore, guess what? You eat more than you want or should.

Further, it creates unregulated fatty acid synthesis. Fructose is metabolized directly in the liver, which results in fat storage and cirrhosis - much like an alcoholic. Fat literally hangs off the liver and around the waist. Many other hormones are also processed in the liver, an over-taxed liver will malfunction many other systems including your adrenal glands, leading to sleep disorders, intestinal fats, cholesterol deposition and oxidative disruption (which leads to premature aging and high blood pressure) and much, much more.

Agave might as well be called High Fructose Agave Syrup - just FYI, point-in-fact: Agave usually has a higher % of fructose (the really bad stuff) over glucose combo.

Other label names to avoid: HFCS, HFCS Solids, Fructose Syrup, or Fructose Solids, Chicory, inulin, iso-glucose, glucose-fructose syrup, and fruit fructose.
~Marcy, B.A. Kinesiology