High Fructose Corn Syrup Dangers

How come high fructose corn syrup may bring serious health hazard? It's come from corn and it's perfectly natural, isn't it? The answer is yes, there are some HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) dangers you should know before deciding to replace your sweeteners on your food with this one.

Let's learn about the basic of "sugar" before moving on. The scientific name of sugar is saccharide. Fructose and Glucose are the family of simple sugar (or also known as mono saccharide). 50% of glucose combined with 50% of fructose (somehow by chemical bond) will create sucrose (also known as disaccharide), the plain old table sugar we've been familiar with.

We're not discussing about taking too much sugar is bad for you. In this article, we'll reveal some research about fructose, one of sugar components that is worse for our health.

Why Fructose?

We can find fructose naturally in fruit, like in berry. Fructose is surrounded with phytochemicals and fiber which are good for our health. However, if fructose is extracted and made into a liquid sweetener, it may not be good anymore. On the contrary, it'll endanger our health.

What are including High Fructose Corn Syrup Dangers?

This HFCS Dangers are the results of some studies;

1. Causing insulin resistance in animals. Insulin resistance may lead to type-2 diabetes.

2. Raising triglyserides which is a serious risk factor for heart disease.

3. Related to non-alcoholic, fatty-liver disease.

4. May lead to obesity.

Actually, there's no big difference between sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose, whereas sucrose consists of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. But the problem is, due to the low cost of high fructose corn syrup, we can find it almost everywhere; sodas, candies, bakery items and ice cream.

So, how to avoid the high fructose corn syrup dangers?

1. Drink water and unsweetened refreshments instead of sugary sodas.

2. Avoid consuming processed foods as far as possible.

3. Vegetables, fruits and yoghurt are recommended for dessert.

Let’s start a new habit to always check processed foods before consuming them. And, why don’t you try to grow your own vegetables and fruits to make sure they’re free from pesticides or chemical fertilizer.