By: Danny West

Though an obvious key to staying fit, knowing what we put into our bodies is often more challenging than might first appear.  A quick glance into the refrigerator yields one undeniable truth: high fructose corn syrup is in almost everything.Soda, jam, ketchup, salad dressing -- it’s hard to escape the monopoly that HFCS has on the food world, and while websites, like www.HFCSfacts.com, that argue the benefits of high fructose corn syrup are plentiful, what can not be denied is that these sites, these companies, are simply trying to sell a product.  Don’t forget when companies swore up and down that cigarettes had no negative side effects on health. This is the same situation. HFCS is to our generation what cigarettes were to our parent --, this is our war and we cannot afford to lose.

The leading theory on why HFCS is so harmful to our diets is, simply put, because it does not regulate our food intake nor does it decrease hunger.  This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing, when you’re on the field and consuming gallons of Gatorade to stay hydrated, perhaps it is best for the body to not realize that it is full. Yet, when you’re at the dinner table and reaching for that second helping of fried whatever to accompany the liter of Dr. Pepper that sits within arms distance, then it’s probably not so beneficial.

The fact is that high fructose corn syrup isn’t going anywhere, it’s cheap to manufacture, it’s easy to transport, and there is a plethora of evidence and studies staged to confirm its lack of danger to the human diet.  Thus, it is up to you as a consumer to monitor, truly and practically, what your diet is comprised of.
 

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