High Fructose Corn Syrup

The seemingly unavoidable chemical that's slowly crippling the health of many in America is high fructose corn syrup.  Simply paying attention to labels on what they eat will lead the average American to realize that he's consuming large quantities of this sweetener.  The The Omnivore's Dilemna is a book that provides an in-depth account and cause of the drastic switch in the American diet.  It mentions the governments' subsidizing of corn as the primary driving factor for the surge in high fructose corn syrup additives.  Since the farmers were getting subsidized for their corn production, they produced more of it than ever before.  The sugar accumulated after processing the corn is higher in fructose than naturally found in most foods.

The potential problem with high fructose is its quick metabolism.  As opposed to glucose, fructose  must be phosphorylated before being broken down to be used for glycolysis.  This leads to the usage of phosphates on fructose that would otherwise be used towards making ATP for energy.  This causes a decreased metabolism.  Additionally, fructose bypasses PFK-1 controls in the liver, which are responsible for converting glucose to glycogen (branched form of multiple sugars) for later use.  Instead of being converted to glycogen, as is the case for glucose, fructose is stored directly as triglycerides (fats).  These two components are causes for the increase in obesity seen in America, as most diets are composed of fast foods and processed foods with elevated levels of high-fructose corn syrup.  Granted, fructose is high in naturally sweet foods such as fruit and honey, these were historically seasonal treats consumed in moderation.  In addition, these natural foods are not high in calories, so they are not as readily converted to triglycerides as high-fructose corn syrup added to foods already dense in calories; the ratio of sugars plays a role in metabolism.  Our body has the mechanism to compensate for low levels of fructose, however this drastic increase in  high-fructose corn syrup to most processed foods is leading to a health care crisis.