I must apologize for bringing this up again, but the big agriculture companies are pushing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) on us, even more now, and the mainstream seems bent on defending it. The HFCS industry is still on a mission to convince people that corn syrup and table sugar are comparable. Yet today, we have even more evidence that it’s just not true, with new studies and guidelines from institutions that finally seem to be coming around to the truth.
The FDA ruled that HFCS can be labeled a “natural” product because it’s made from corn. That’s technically true, although the “corn” in question is genetically modified. And there’s nothing natural or healthy about GMO corn. Furthermore, results from a study presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 42nd Annual Meeting found that the rate of obesity has increased sharply since the development of HFCS, and that the prevalence of HFCS in processed foods may have something to do with it. Americans now consume 30% more fructose than they did 20 years ago, and even more over the last few years.
Chaos in the World of Sugar
The results of a study led by James J. DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular research scientist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, MO, and published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, warn strongly against ingesting HFCS, in addition to added sugars generally. Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) are the negative direct effects. If that sounds familiar, it’s because those are the same effects regular sugar has.
The study abstract contains a warning, which is fairly rare for buttoned-down scientists: “Added fructose in particular (e.g., as a constituent of added sucrose or as the main component of high-fructose sweeteners) may pose the greatest problem for incident diabetes, diabetes-related metabolic abnormalities, and cardiovascular risk.”
Guidelines Presented by the World Health Associations (WHO)
The World Health Organizations (WHO) recommends that sugar intake makes up “less than 10% of total energy intake per day.” Even better, the WHO would like to recommend that adults reduce their daily sugar intake to only 5% of total daily calories. Based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet, that would mean consuming only about 25 grams of sugar (6 teaspoons) per day.
The interesting thing is that these WHO guidelines apply to most forms of sugar, not just the white stuff you know. It includes fructose and the foods and juices that have a great deal in them.
The Persistence of Hidden Sugars
Aside from a physiological addiction to sugar, one of the biggest barriers to avoiding sugar is that it’s in foods you don’t normally think of as having sugar. Ketchup, for example, isn’t exactly tomato paste. It includes about 1 teaspoon of sugar in a single serving! There are many names for sugar found in everyday food labels, under names you may not be familiar with:
- Corn sweetener
- Corn syrup
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Glucose
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Honey
- Invert sugar
- Lactose
- Maltose
- Malt syrup
- Molasses
- Sucrose
- Syrup
The Safety of Natural Sugars
The good news is that fresh, whole foods like fruits and vegetables, even though they have sugars and fructose in the case of fruit, aren’t on the “bad” list. A study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings finds that “Whole foods that contain fructose (e.g., fruits and vegetables) pose no problem for health and are likely protective against diabetes and adverse CV outcomes.” Furthermore, it confirmed that “there is no need for added fructose or any added sugars in the diet.”
While some guidelines, such as those offered by the American Heart Association, have not yet caught up to the new recommendation trend, it is suggested that reducing sugar intake to 5% of daily calories will go far to help stop your chances of getting adult-onset diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and suffering a premature death as a result of these preventable diseases.
One of the things you can do to help reduce your body’s burden of sugar is to make sure you are getting enough magnesium and chromium. Your body uses these two essential minerals to make insulin and enhance the effects of insulin, the substance that processes and lowers the amount of sugar in your blood. It’s not uncommon for people with diabetes to be deficient in one or both.
There are quite a few vegetables and other foods that have these minerals, like broccoli, spinach, beans, and the Peruvian grain-like plant quinoa. Herbs and spices are also surprisingly good sources.
Remember that vitamin C enhances the absorption of dietary chromium. However, to avoid deficiency so that you can properly process all the hidden sugar in our foods, make sure your daily multi-nutrient has at least 400 mg of magnesium and 200 mcg of chromium.