HFCS Mercury and Your Health
The Institute for Vibrant Living Research Dept
. has researched the controversy surrounding High Fructose Corn Syrup. Here is their report:
It's lurking everywhere. It's in your bread. It's in your margarine. It's in your snack crackers. What is it?
You've probably heard of it in the news lately. It's HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup).
High-fructose corn syrup is used widely as a sweetener in packaged foods because it's much cheaper than ordinary sugar. That's why it's gained popularity gradually in the food industry as the sweetener of choice in many packaged foods since the 1970's.
Today, HFCS can be found in everything from fruit juice to ketchup to chocolate, apple pie filling and zucchini bread!
So, why should we take notice?
Let's take a look at the facts:
For starters, it can lead to obesity. And that carries with it, a huge risk for developing cardiovascular disease, along with high blood pressure and diabetes.
High-fructose corn syrup is engineered to contain up to 80 percent fructose and 20 percent sucrose. Natural fruit, on the other hand, is about 50-50.
The fiber in natural fruit allows all cells in the body to easily absorb the fructose and convert it to energy.
But the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup is so concentrated that it must be metabolized solely by the liver. The liver is primarily responsible for burning fat, so essentially it puts fat burning on hold to process the high-fructose corn syrup.
So this excessive fructose can lead to obesity. The liver is also the organ primarily responsible for ridding toxins from the body; so excessive fructose processing probably compromises its other important functions, at least short-term.
And it's been said that HFCS is implicated in diabetes, and can elevate cholesterol levels. It also accused of robbing the body of nutrients, as well as contributing to blood clots and preventing white blood cells from protecting against unhealthy invaders.
It's even been said that High-fructose corn syrup can impede the heart's ability to process magnesium, copper and chromium.
And perhaps even worse, an independent testing lab revealed that mercury levels were detected in many major brand products with HFCS on the grocery shelves today!
Indeed, a famous instant oatmeal brand, a major chocolate syrup brand, a major jelly producer, a major toaster pastry and barbecue sauce brand (and we mean major - as in top sellers in the world) were all on the list of foods using HFCS that contain mercury according to the non-profit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
The big problem lies in a chlorinated extraction process used by HFCS producers that contributes the traces of mercury as a by-product.
In fairness to the major brands though, this process is being phased out in favor of a more expensive one that doesn't produce the offending chemical.
However, roughly 50% of HFCS still being produced is mercury-tainted and there's no way for the consumer to know which products have mercury and which don't!
Anyway, it's probably safer to stay away from HFCS as much as possible, because of the many other perceived problems associated with it.
We also need to point out that the HFCS industry has their side of the story and we should always take both sides into account before passing judgment.
The problem with this subject is there are so many claims and counter claims who has time to deal with all of it? - Consumers have little choice in the matter considering the ubiquitous use of HFCS in the food supply.
Finally, one might surmise that where there's a lot of smoke, there's bound to be a fire of some sort.
So, until the HFCS controversy is settled, we should all be diligent, read our food labels and try to go natural whenever possible!
HFCS Mercury and Your Health
By: David Flores
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