By Staff of Forum Health Rochester Hills
Increasing evidence points to a connection between a common processed food ingredient and the rise in chronic diseases. Anyone concerned with living a healthy lifestyle and following an anti-aging therapy program should avoid consuming this substance. This ingredient is artificial sugar, including high fructose corn syrup. Increased consumption of this ingredient is associated with increased health concerns, including a greater risk of developing diseases like:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Liver disease
- Obesity
- High cholesterol
Medical professionals are studying the effects of the sugar fructose on the metabolic pathways leading to the development of these chronic diseases. Many recognize that the modern diet, with its vastly increased sugar intake, holds the key to the rise in many life-threatening chronic diseases.
What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?
Fructose is found in the sweetener high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient in a vast array of foods. Rather than using the more expensive sweetener table sugar, food and beverage manufacturers have substituted corn syrup in everything from soda-pop to baked goods over the past 30 years. Reading food product ingredients reveals the presence of high fructose corn syrup in hundreds of foods.
Fructose is implicated in causing inflammation in the body and increasing the development of plaque in the blood vessels, a major contributor to heart disease. Fructose is also involved in the development of fatty liver and the increase in uric acid in the body that leads to kidney and heart disease.
One of the biggest problems with corn syrup is its prevalence in today’s foods. Food industry proponents argue that high fructose corn syrup is nutritionally the same as sugar. But most people know that sugar isn’t great to eat with every meal, every day. Breakfast cereals, lunch snacks and beverages are loaded with this ingredient, making it difficult to moderate consumption. Limiting daily intake of fructose to less than 25 grams per day, or less than 15 grams per day for those with high uric acid levels, decreases the damage caused by this destructive sugar.
