Does high-fructose corn syrup make you fatter than sugar? See this new study and you decide…
by Mike Geary – Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program: The Truth about Six-Pack Abs
A “Corny” Lie?
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last year or two, you’ve undoubtedly seen the massive media campaign that the Corn Refiners Association (the CRA) has been running on TV commercials, online ads, etc trying to “clean up” the poor public image of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
They have even tried a re-branding campaign trying to change the name to “corn sugar” instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
In addition, the TV commercials try to convince you that HFCS is “no worse than sugar”, and even try to imply that it is somehow ‘natural’, with this phrase:
“It’s made from corn, has no artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and is okay to eat in moderation”
REALLY? I’d say that it’s a downright LIE to say that HFCS has no artificial ingredients if you’ve ever seen how HFCS is refined and processed and the chemicals involved in that process. Watch the entertaining documentary King Corn and you’ll see the NASTY chemicals involved in refining HFCS!
And let’s not forget that HFCS is almost always made from Genetically Modified corn. Not so “natural” anymore huh!
In response to this CRA propaganda campaign to revamp the image of HFCS, Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest stated: “High-fructose corn syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose and some short polymers of glucose. Another enzyme is then used to convert varying fractions of glucose into fructose… High-fructose corn syrup just doesn’t exist in nature”.
What about the debate: Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup worse for you than sugar?
This seems to have been an ongoing debate for the last couple years, but I personally think it’s a stupid debate… In terms of your health and your waistline, they are BOTH pure evil! Over time, with excess consumption of either HFCS or sugar, they can both lead to diabetes, obesity, and other major health problems, including premature aging, and a bulging belly!
However, with that said, I personally avoid HFCS at all costs, but I don’t necessarily avoid sugar altogether. I minimize sugar greatly, but I don’t avoid it like I avoid HFCS. Have I mentioned that I haven’t had a soda pop since I was a teenager… not one! Two things that I try to avoid almost 100% are HFCS and trans fats… because they are easily two of the MOST evil food additives that cause the most damage from a biochemical standpoint internally in your body (keep that in mind when you’re about to eat or drink them, and it’s easy to say no).
The only HFCS I get is probably the minor amounts that I might get in ketchup at a restaurant (sorry, I’m not giving up my ketchup… but I do get organic ketchup at home, which has no HFCS). But other than ketchup at a restaurant, I stay away from anything and everything with HFCS in it, including store-bought salad dressings which are often laced with high amounts of HFCS. Instead, I make my own healthy lean-body salad dressings at home.
The reason that I avoid HFCS more than I avoid plain sugar is that there is just too much evidence at this point that your body DOES process HFCS differently than sugar… despite the propaganda that the Corn Refiners Association is trying to shove down your throat with their ads.
New Princeton Study reveals that HFCS can stimulate more weight gain than sugar
Leave it to those geniuses at Princeton to give us some good evidence that HFCS can make you fatter than sugar! In a 2010 Princeton University study, researchers found that rats given water sweetened with HFCS gained significantly more weight than those given water sweetened with plain sugar, despite calorie intake being the same between both groups.
Princeton researchers also state: “In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides“.
And what about those claims by the Corn Refiners Association that HFCS is “no worse than sugar”? Well, let’s get past the propaganda, and hear what an actual researcher has to say:
According to professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction… “Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests. When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”
Princeton researchers also noted that the HFCS groups in the studies gained significant amounts of visceral fat around the belly. As you might know, visceral fat is more deadly than subcutaneous fat and is a serious health concern as it releases inflammatory molecules into your system.
One reason that HFCS appears to cause more weight gain than plain sugar is that HFCS doesn’t trigger a leptin response in the body. This means that it won’t signal the body to decrease appetite despite those HFCS calories that were consumed.
Another reason that HFCS affects our bodies differently is this… according to Princeton researchers, although HFCS only has 10% more fructose than table sugar (55% fructose content vs 50% fructose content in sugar), the fructose in HFCS is more sinister… According to Princeton, “as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for fast absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.”
Aha… very interesting!
Well, I hope that’s enough evidence for you to simply try to fully avoid HFCS from now on. Again, this doesn’t mean eating loads of table sugar is good for you either (that should be obvious), but these studies clearly show that HFCS is at least one step WORSE for you than sugar. And you also know that HFCS contributes to more abdominal fat, so with that said, why in the world would you ever want to touch another soda again!
You also now know that the deceptive advertisments by the Corn Refiners Association have basically been LYING to you with their propaganda that “HFCS is no worse for you than sugar”. Yeah, right.
How about some good comedy about HFCS to finish this off…
When I first saw this SNL skit that mocks the Corn Refiners Association ads on TV, I didn’t know which direction they were going with it… but if you watch to the end, you’ll see where they went with it… hilarious! See what I mean below…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OmPUXVZL1xA]