High Fructose Corn Syrup Research

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The Effects of Consumption on High Fructose Corn Syrup. High fructose corn syrup is a sweetener made by processing corn syrup to increase the level of fructose, usually to between 42% and 55% of the total sugar, with the balance being glucose. It is used extensively as a sweetener in processed foods and soft drinks, particularly soda and baked goods, but it is included also in many foods not normally thought of as sweet foods (“High”). High fructose corn syrup must be banned from all human consumption because of the negative health issues. High fructose corn syrup is associated with liver scarring. The condition, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is present in about 30% of all American adults, but was recently discovered that it is rare.…show more content…
High-fructose corn syrup metabolizes to fat in the human body much faster than other sugars, resulting in increased fat gain. Since the fructose is consumed in liquid form, the negative effects on human metabolism are even greater (Barrett). High fructose corn syrup is not digested by the body as easily as natural sugar is. It takes the human body one day to digest natural sugar, while it takes up to four days to digest a serving of high fructose corn syrup. This means that your body is continuously working to digest high fructose corn syrup if the body consumes processed foods or drink soda on a regular basis. This could cause the body to be obese over a period of time ("Three"). After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver—ONLY your liver can break it down. This is much different than consuming glucose, in which your liver has to break down only 20 percent, and the remaining 80 percent is immediately metabolized and used by the rest of the cells in the body. Fructose is converted into fat that gets stored in your liver and other tissues as body fat. Part of what makes fructose so bad for your health is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar.…show more content…
Pancreatic cancer develops after a pancreatic cell replicates differently, just any other organ cancers. If the cell replicates continuously, a tumor will develop. High fructose corn syrup causes blood glucose and insulin levels to raise highly. When the body has high levels of insulin on pancreatic cells it may increase the growth and division of precancerous cells, promoting their growth and life span. “Also, a test tube study published in the August 2010 issue of "Cancer Research" notes that pancreatic cancer cells prefer to use fructose as fuel, promoting cancer cell growth” (Devon). “Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found. They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.” (Fox). In conclusion, the FDA should ban high fructose corn syrup from the American diet because the negative health effects. High fructose corn syrup causes liver disease, obesity, diabetes, and pancreatic cancer. Although the food and drug administration is still debating whether it will be healthful to ban high fructose corn syrup, it is obvious that banning this will prevent many health issues in Americans
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