Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

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Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Abstract: What is high fructose corn syrup? Is it some kind of disease making machine? High fructose corn syrup is causing many problems in the United States and two of the main problems are obesity and type two diabetes. There are also many other diseases that branch off from these two main diseases, like liver and heart disease. In this paper, the reason why high fructose corn syrup is becoming such a huge problem in the United States will be explored.

The Japanese first developed high fructose corn syrup. When they saw that it is more cost effective than other sugars, other companies started to use high fructose corn syrup in their products. High fructose corn syrup is a sugar made of fifty-five percent fructose and forty-five percent glucose. Compared to normal table sugar, which is fifty percent fructose and fifty percent glucose, it doesn?t seem like much. Yet the fructose in high fructose corn syrup is less attached from normal sugar. This fructose that is free from the glucose part is more harmful to the body. It was first introduced in 1970 but it hasn?t been actively used until the late 1900?s. Yet because we started to use high fructose corn syrup, it is now causing a lot of problems. It has many negative side effects after consumption, and most of the consuming is done in the United States. Two of the main problems caused by high fructose corn syrup are obesity and type two diabetes. Some of the other branches of these problems are liver and heart disease, osteoporosis, an increase in triglycerides, and many other kinds of health problems. Since high fructose corn syrup is very common in our daily diets, ranging for drinks to desserts, it is becoming a huge problem. (Severson, K. 2004)

One of the main problems of high fructose corn syrup is obesity. Eating high fructose corn syrup is like eating fat. Fructose isn?t absorbed the large intestine or the first part of the small intestine. Fructose is absorbed in the jejunum at a much higher rate than normal glucose. After it is absorbed, it goes to the liver, where it is converted to fatty acids. When someone consumes too much fructose, the liver is unable to convert all of it so it can be absorbed improperly.

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