Are They Renaming High Fructose Corn Syrup?

High fructose corn syrup is bad for you. Let’s unpack this controversial topic, so you can understand what high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is and why it is harmful.

Put in simple terms, HFCS is a combination of glucose (the sugar found in blood) and fructose (fruit sugar) that is sweeter than sucrose (table sugar) and also less expensive to manufacture.  (Read Marion Nestle’s guide for details on the chemical makeup of these sugars.) The increased use of HFCS in the Standard American Diet over the past few decades has correlated with the increase in diabetes and obesity.

Nutritional scientists such as Dr. Bruce Ames have proven that high fructose corn syrup is more readily absorbed into the blood stream than table sugar. The glucose causes insulin spikes—which in turn causes weight gain—and the fructose adversely affects the liver by prompting the production of triglycerides and cholesterol. In addition, HFCS makes glycated end products that are pro-inflammatory to brain neurons. This, in turn, leads to Alzheimer’s Disease.

If this isn’t enough to have you boycott it completely, other research suggests that HFCS contains traces of mercury and other contaminants, not to mention the fact that it comes from GMO corn, which carries bacteriotoxic genes, can cause dysbiosis of the gut because it imbalances healthy intestinal microbes.

The corn industry, backed by government subsidies that do little to support sustainable farming and the general health of the population, disputes HFCS’ negative effects in their alarmingly Orwellian, propagandist websites. They claim that high fructose corn syrup is the same as any other sugar, and your body can’t tell the difference. Obviously, this is absolutely untrue. The corn industry has even gone so far as to attempt to get high fructose corn syrup renamed “corn sugar” on food packaging. Though FDA struck this down, the Corn Refiners Association has threatened to call HFCS  “corn sugar” anyway. Their eagerness to rename it reinforces the idea they have something to hide.

How can you stay away from high fructose corn syrup? Read labels on food packaging, to begin. HFCS lurks in condiments, cereals, crackers, and other packaged foods. It’s important to remember that consuming sugar, no matter what type of sugar it is, negatively impacts your health. Soft drinks should be completely avoided, and sugary foods should not be a regular part of your diet. Preferred sweets include natural treats like fresh, whole, organic fruit.

How do you satisfy your sweet tooth without high fructose corn syrup? Share your favorite natural treats in the comments section below.

The Fight for GMO Labeling

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, are not labeled on our food packaging, yet they comprise up to 90% of common products such as corn, soybeans, and sugar beets (and their derivatives, which include corn syrup, soy lecithin, and corn starch). As I mentioned in a blog post last year, it is vital to our individual health and to the health of our environment to avoid consuming toxic and altered foods. Bacterio-toxic (BT) corn, for example, is engineered to kill pests that threaten the corn crop, but when we consume it, it affects the healthy bacteria in our intestines. A European study done over ten years ago showed that GM genes can spread to people and animals.  A group of organic farmers recently sued Monsanto to have its patents on GMOs invalidated because they were worried that GMO crops planted adjacent to their fields would contaminate their organic crops through cross-pollination. A federal judge struck down their case, accusing the organic farmers of “creating a controversy where none exists.”  While many countries in the European Union have banned GM crops, and Peru recently announced a 10-year GMO ban, in the United States it seems that big corporations like Monsanto call the shots.

How can we avoid GMOs if we don’t know where they are? Companies that manufacture GMOs are insistent that GMOs cause no harm to human beings, so why do they refuse to label them? Marion Nestle, a public policy expert who was a member of the FDA’s Food Advisory committee when the first GM products became available in 1994, emphasizes that “Intelligent people can argue about whether GM crops are good, bad or indifferent for agriculture, the environment and market economies, or whether the products are safe. But one point is clear. The absence of labeling cannot be good in the long run for business or American democracy.”

We need to demand GMO labeling on our food products. A legal petition has been filed with the FDA, asking them to require labeling of GMOs. Please sign it at JustLabelIt.org. Additionally, if you are a registered voter in the state of California, you can add your signature to a ballot initiative that would allow voters to vote on labeling GMOs. Eight hundred thousand signatures must be collected by April 22 for this to make it onto the ballot, and signatures must be collected in person. Stop by my office to sign or visit LabelGMOs.org for more information.

While we wait to see if legislation will be passed, what can you do?

• Educate yourself by watching documentaries about modern agriculture, such as King Corn, Food Inc, and the Future of Food.
•   Keep up-to-date on GMOs in the news by following The Non GMO Project’s blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter pages, and take action when you can.
• Avoid purchasing products that are likely to contain GMOs. The Center for Food Safety has a comprehensive shopping guide you can download from their site, and they also have apps for iPhone and Android.

 What are your thoughts on GMOs? Share them here.

 

Food Rights and GMOs

Modern medicine is an interesting juxtaposition of brilliant scientific research vicariously mixed with big pharma/chemistry for profit.  The very nature of natural medicine is that the ingredients cannot be patented, commandeered to be exclusive ingredient horses.

It is very frightening that multinational companies, such as Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta, are constantly pushing the boundaries on their relentless efforts to patent the DNA of food – in other words, the DNA of life! Their exclusive rights to Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, literally reverse engineer their original purpose, which was to improve yield and simplify production.  Instead, they break the very cycle of life by creating seeds that germinate one time only, so the farmer must continually purchase seed and cannot do his own seed saving. In addition, the companies that hold the patents prevent or restrict independent researchers from testing the seeds and examining their long-term effects, with devastating consequences.   BT (bacterio-toxic) corn, which was created to be poisonous to insect pests, is linked the Colony Collapse Disorder that has been wiping out honeybees all across the nation.

Regulatory boards like the FDA and USDA are in place to protect us, the consumers.  However, the Bush administration installed leaders who had ties to Monsanto and other such corporations. President Obama has been systematically replacing the leaders of the regulatory boards with science-based leaders. Since the midterm elections, the regulatory boards have been much more lax: planting of genetically-modified alfalfa has been approved, and it looks like GM salmon will be next. To my disappointment, it seems Washington has given up promoting our food rights for its centrist efforts.

How then can we change this fundamental driving force for medicine and pure, unaltered food?  Is it not that food rights are so basic to life that they should be protected from profits? What are your thoughts?

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There are two great documentary films that cover genetically modified food and the American food industry as a whole: Food Inc and The Future of Food. Both are available on DVD.

Other references include:

Eastabrook, Barry. “Feds on GMO Labeling: Don’t Tell, Don’t Ask.” The Atlantic, April 26, 2010

Gurian-Sherman, Doug. “No Seeds, No Independent Research.” The Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2011

Judis, John B. “Obama’s Quiet Revolution.” The Utne Reader, July-August 2010

Lean, Geoffrey, Volker Angres and Louise Jury. “GM Genes Can Spread to People and Animals.” The Independent (UK), May 28, 2000

Pollack, Andrew.  “Genetically Modified Salmon Gets Closer to Table.” The New York Times, June 25, 2010

Pollack, Andrew. “U.S. Approves Genetically Modified Alfalfa.” The New York Times, January 27, 2011

Smith, Jeffrey M. Seeds of Deception. Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, VT,2003