High Fructose Corn Syrup

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In an effort to combat the obesity epidemic in the United States, there has been a lot of blame and bad press on an artificial sweetener called High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS for short). While it is not the only factor in our quickly enlarging physiques and detonating rates of diabetes, there is a correlation. However, HFCS, in general, is not poison and poses no additional health risk associated with using HFCS compared to other sweeteners. To better understand HFCS, we must first understand its origin. The effects of World War II drastically influenced the history and production of sugar, with limited supplies and increasing need the United States started rationing sugar. The sweet confections became an ingredient in pre/post war production of blood plasma, antibiotics, ammunition, and plastic. Half the world’s supply of sugar was lost to war because the supply was far behind the demand. In 1957, a pair of American researchers developed an enzyme from corn called glucose isomerize, this idea didn’t take off well in the US. Later, refined and reintroduced as HFCS. A relatively new food ingredient, it was composed in Japan by Dr. Yoshiyuki Takasaki in the late 1960s, and then entered the American food supply system in the early 1970s. ; HFCS is derived from corn starch. Starch itself is a chain of glucose (a simple sugar) molecules joined together. When corn starch is broken down into individual glucose molecules, the end product is corn syrup, which is essentially 100% glucose. To make HFCS, enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose, also called “fruit sugar” because it occurs naturally in fruits and berries. HFCS is ‘high’ in fructose compared to the pure glucose that is in corn syrup. As we compare the amount of glucose and fructose in HFCS to table sugar the difference is minimal. HFCS is

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