Corn Syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Type II D...

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DIABETES & BLOOD SUGAR - NEWS from NOW

June 25, 2004

CORN SYRUP: YOUR ONE-WAY TICKET TO TYPE 2 DIABETES

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By Greg Arnold, May 26, 2004, Abstracted from " Increased consumption of

refined carbohydrates and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the United States:

an

ecologic assessment " in the May 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition

Despite the advancements made in electronics and medicine, technology has

exacted more harm than good for us nutritionally, continuing to divert us away

from eating the foods nature intended. Perhaps nowhere is this more prevalent

than in the food Americans have come to love in epidemic proportions: sugar.

Rather than having natural sugar cane constituting the foods we eat,

technology has decided to make sugar from corn and make it ubiquitous in almost

everything we eat. That sugar is called High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).

Developed in the 1970's, the manufacturing of HFCS has steadily grown into a

$2.6 billion per year industry. HFCS is produced by processing corn starch to

yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of

fructose. Two enzymes used to make HFCS, alpha-amylase and glucose-isomerase,

are genetically modified to make them more stable. The ubiquitous nature of

HFCS (used in almost everything, from jams to condiments to soft drinks to

so-called " health foods " ) also makes those trying to avoid genetically

engineered

foods even more difficult. Today Americans consume more HFCS than sugar.1

According to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, corn syrup's ubiquity in our food has now been linked to Type 2

Diabetes.

Seeking to examine the correlation between consumption of refined

carbohydrates and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the United States,

researchers

conducted an ecologic correlation study. They examined the per capita nutrient

consumption in the United States between 1909 and 1997 obtained from the US

Department of Agriculture and compared that with the prevalence of type 2

diabetes

obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After conducting a multivariate nutrient-density analysis, in which total

energy intake was accounted for, corn syrup was positively associated with the

prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Fiber was negatively associated with the

prevalence of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, protein and fat were not associated

with

the prevalence of type 2 diabetes when total energy was controlled for.

These results led the researchers to conclude, " intakes of refined

carbohydrate (corn syrup) concomitant with decreasing intakes of fiber

paralleled the

upward trend in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes observed in the United States

during the 20th century. "

References:

1 Swanson JE. Metabolic effects of dietary fructose in healthy subjects.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1992; 55(4): 851-6

2 Forristal AJ. " The Murky World of Corn Syrup " on the Weston A. Price

Foundation Website