The High Fructose Corn Syrup Deception: HFCS to just "Corn Sugar"

Over the past couple years, I have become increasingly concerned about how Monsanto and the United States government is manipulating the world's food supply. While many politicians and Americans are condemning WikiLeaks, we discovered late last year how the United States government if bullying European countries to accept GMO crops, which are driven by the company Monsanto. Independent studies of GMO crops show GMO crops are likely to cause organ damage and in tests on hamsters, the third generation hamsters fed GMO food were incapable of reproducing. Yet the United States government according to WikiLeaks is creating enemies lists of countries who don't adopt the GMO seeds. Why?

Corn is in everything these days, and while not all corn is bad for you, like anything beyond moderation and there seems to be some long-term health effects that the increased use of corn in food products is having on the population. It is the strong corn lobby funded by companies like Monsanto that are pushing this idea of corn, whether it be GMO's or corn used for other purposes like sweetening food, is perfectly healthy. It isn't. Just like we have been sold this false idea funded deeply with subsides that corn is the next form of oil that will drive the economy, corn used in other purposes are having a negative impact on our bodies.

Yesterday, I shared with you how Big Agra like Monsanto, fueled by the power the food safety act (pushed by Democrats ironically--the same Democrats who attack Republicans for being friends of big corporations) are going to start playing with words more to deceive Americans who realize the problem with GMOs and high fructose corn syrup. The food safety act already gives companies who push GMO crops into their products no responsibility of labeling the product as a GMO. Food processing companies don't have to tell you the origins of the seeds, whether they be pure corn or Monsanto's genetically mutated kernels.

Now food processing companies who decide to make their food more addictive by sweetening it with high fructose corn syrup are going to be allowed to change the label. Watch in 2011 for high fructose corn syrup to become simply "corn sugar" in order to fool some people. Don't fall for it.

You see, what the food processing companies don't want you to know, as they save billions each year using corn over sugar are the dangers of their products that us HFCS. The dangers include, as noted on the blog Disinformation:

1. The process of making high fructose corn syrup is pretty weird

First of all, there’s nothing natural about high fructose corn syrup, and it most certainly does not exist in nature.

The process starts off with corn kernels, yes, but then that corn is spun at a high velocity and combined with three other enzymes: alpha-amylase, glucoamylase, and xylose isomerase, so that it forms a thick syrup that’s way sweeter than sugar and super cheap to produce.

That’s why it’s poured into a huge majority of mass pproduced processed foods.

2. High fructose corn syrup does weird stuff to your body

While the commercials claim that it’s fine in moderation, the truth is that the whole problem with high fructose corn syrup in the first place, is that moderation is seemingly impossible.

The syrup interferes with the body’s metabolism so that a person can’t stop eating. It’s truly hard to control cravings because high fructose corn syrup slows down the secretion of leptin in the body. Leptin is a crucial hormone in the body that tells you that you’re full and to stop eating.

That’s why it’s so closely associated with obesity in this country. It’s like an addictive drug.

3. There might be mercury in your corn syrup

And what about the rumors of mercury being found in corn syrup?

I wrote last year that according to MSNBC in one study, published in the Journal of Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

“We went and looked at supermarket samples where high fructose corn syrup was the first or second ingredient on the label,” Dr. David Wallinga, a food safety researcher and activist at the nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy said. These 55 different foods included barbecue sauce, jam, yogurt, and chocolate syrup. “We found about one out of three had mercury above the detection limit,” Wallinga said.

4. The environmental impact of high fructose corn syrup is huge

Most corn is grown as a monoculture, meaning that the land is used solely for corn, not rotated among crops. Large monocultures, which are usually genetically modified, can be riddled with pests.

As a result, monocultures are often dressed with a toxic cocktail of pesticides so that they can survive. Monocultures can deplete the nutrients in soil and lead to erosion.

There are too many games being played with our food supply, and when you look at the unfunded liabilities of the United States like Social Security, there appears to me, hoping not to sound like a conspiracy, there is an interest to keep you from living longer and food may be the vehicle to prevent long life. That's why the government is pushing a food safety act that makes it harder for organic farmers to bring products to market while companies like Monsanto are getting a free pass.