Numerous scientific studies have linked high fructose corn syrup consumption with obesity, and in turn, diseases such as diabetes. One study at Princeton University found that rats with access to high fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when the overall caloric content was the same. Not only did these lab animals gain weight, but the long-term consumption of high fructose corn syrup lead to an abnormal increase in body fat, particularly in the abdominal area, and a rise in triglycerides, or circulating fat blood cells. Although the cause is yet to be determined, many scientists attribute the phenomenon to the make-up of the molecules themselves: excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. Furthermore, high fructose corn syrup may hinder our cognitive ability to recognize fullness, actually increasing appetite after it is ingested.
In addition to Princeton's experiment, other statistics make the causality seem obvious. According to the Department of Agriculture, from 1972 to 2002 the amount of sugar and syrup produced annually per American grew 21% from 104 lbs. to 126 lbs. In that same time, the percentage of syrup sweetener grew from 1% to 50%. Coincidentally, the obesity rate in the U.S. increased by about 25% from the years 1985 to 2008. With the presence of high fructose corn syrup in fast food, sodas, and even convenience foods such as peanut butter, bread, ketchup, and spaghetti sauce, moderation is nearly impossible for many Americans. The danger of HFCS as a threat to health has consequences not just for the individuals, but also for the nation as a whole.
Subsidized by $20 billion of taxpayer dollars per year, farmers are not likely to stop corn production any time soon. However, while taxes on corn remain the same, with the new health care bill in place, much of our hard earned taxpayer dollars will be used to treat diabetes and diseases brought on by the consumption of HFCS. And as Americans are getting fatter, they are becoming increasingly unhealthy as well, therefore requiring more medical attention for weight-related problems. By eating HFCS and supporting the government subsidies of the product, we are also supporting the obesity crisis in America, and assuming the responsibility to pay for their medical bills that arise in combination with their low societal status and high consumption of cheap, convenience foods, undoubtedly loaded with high fructose corn syrup.
Not only are we emptying our wallets, but we are draining our environment as well. Most corn is grown in a monoculture, where the land is used solely for corn and not rotated among other crops. This maximizes yields but at the price of depleting soil nutrients, requiring more pesticides and fertilizer while weakening topsoil. Michael Pollan, a well-known critic of industrial agriculture writes, "Look no farther than the dead zone in the Gulf [of Mexico], an area the size of New Jersey where virtually nothing will live because it has been starved of oxygen by the fertilizer runoff coming down the Mississippi from the Corn Belt. Then there is the atrazine in the water in farm country -- a nasty herbicide that, at concentrations as little as 0.1 part per billion, has been shown to turn male frogs into hermaphrodites." Milling and chemically altering corn to form high fructose corn syrup also requires a lot of energy. However, the majority of energy lost due to HFCS production, must be looked at on a global level.
From the same taxpayer dollars we pay to subsidize high fructose corn syrup production and from the same sugary purchases we use to support it, we are also encouraging the production of ethanol from corn. While you may think of this as another way you can join the green movement and prevent global warming, biofuels are a source of something very un-green: deforestation in the Brazilian rain forest. The sharp increase in demand for farm-grown fuels such as ethanol has raised global crop prices to record highs prompting a dramatic expansion in Brazilian agriculture, which is invading the Amazon at a startling rate. Subsidized corn used for high fructose corn syrup producti
on has a similar effect, as it too inflates pricing standards in world agriculture, leading developing countries to do anything they can to keep up, even if it means hacking away at the lungs of the world.What the "Sweet Solution" campaign deems as harmless, is actually slowly depleting our bodies, our wallets, and our global environment. What they claim as equal to sugar is provoking a slow suicide, the takeover of abdominal fat in our bodies, unwarranted financial expenses, depletion of American soil, and the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. In avoiding high fructose corn syrup, we could not only evade the energy costs of health care for diseases caused by HFCS consumption, the enzymatic process used to make the compound, the energy used to grow and transport the crops, and the loss of our planet's oxygen providers, but we will also be improving the overall well-being of ourselves, our country and our world.
As I grow older, I find it increasingly obligatory to trace all of my actions to how it affects the world. Even if it is simply watching what I eat, I believe that it is important to understand the global consequences. So, whatever your motivation, be it fat rats, health improvement, fighting the tax system, saving the rain forest, or even hating corny commercials, I encourage you to think about these things when you're making food choices. Be careful what you eat, it could kill you.
(Photos from flickr taken by WriterGal 39 and mivox respectively.)
