Knowing what is okay to consume and not okay is confusing when there is fructose, corn syrup, and HFCS. There are differences between all three. Fructose is a natural sweetener typically found in fruits and vegetables. It is also in sucrose, which is table sugar, and HFCS. Corn syrup is made from corn starch after …show more content…
They believe the body uses HFCS similar to sugar and that the effects are the same. HFCS does have fructose and glucose like sugar, and is nutritionally the same. Nevertheless, HFCS is man-made and works differently in the body because it is a different compound. Unlike sugar, HFCS’s glucose and fructose molecules are not connected. Sugar’s molecules are connected, and that forces the body have to go through an extra step to separate the fructose and glucose. However, fructose in HFCS is readily available and enters the blood stream quickly. Fructose goes to the liver to be processed, but since there is plenty at one time, the liver sends the fructose to the bloodstream as triglycerides. The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine defines triglycerides as “fatty compounds (made) during the process of digestion and stored in the body’s (fat) tissues. High levels of triglycerides in the blood are associated with insulin resistance.” Having a high amount of triglycerides is also known to cause heart …show more content…
According to Doctor William Balistreri, evidence suggests HFCS contribute to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and it can cause liver fibrosis, which is scarring of the liver. In animal studies, HFCS caused fatty liver, leptin resistance, vascular inflammation, gut permeability, and endotoxemia.
In Nancy Deville’s book, Death by Supermarket, she discusses how the body processes HFCS. HFCS tastes the same as sugar and takes nutrients from the body to process the fructose. But HFCS is different from sugar in the fact that it metabolizes quicker than sugar and is then stored in the liver, which leads to having a fatty liver. She points out the similarities of when HFCS was introduced and the forty-seven percent increase in type two diabetes and the eighty percent increase in obesity (Deville 29).
Researchers at USC and Oxford completed a study that also backed the theory that HFCS increases type two diabetes. The study’s results showed that indicators of diabetes were higher in countries that used HFCS. There was a twenty percent difference between diabetes rates in countries that use HFCS versus those that did