That is the headline of an article that in in the latest AARP Bulletin. The answer is: HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!
It is in almost everything these days from Ketchup to Dannon Yogurt to Coke Classic. I started looking - the graham crackers, the cranapple juice, the cereals.
They are not talking about the corn syrup that you make your pecan pie with, but an additive that is cheaper than sugar (by 20%) that is turning up in pizza, beer, baby food - you name it.
Generous federal subsidies to the corn farmers and trade poilicies keep the price down and the fast food places use it liberally!
Since 1970 the annual consumption has gone from about 1/2 pound to 60 pounds per person! There is now concern that this switchover from table sugar as sweetner coincides with the obesity epidemic in this country.
The most important thing to me was the paragraph on how this is used within our bodies. "Digestion process differs in that sugar is broken down in the digestive tract and processed in cells. The glucose stimulates insulin production, a necessary step for converting sugar to energy.
High-fructose corn syrup goes directly to the liver! Research has shown that the liver releases enzymes that instruct the body to store fat. Thus fructose may slow fat burning and cause weight gain."
So, here you have some excerpts from the article. I noticed that in the comercially made breads this fructose is used - very difficult to get away from it!
So, add THIS complication to our other hormonal and metabolic changes and here is a real recipe for the Oink Factor! I know I don't consume anyplace near the 60 pounds per annum, but now will be even more careful to screen labels for this ingredient.
Just had to share this with all the concern we express about the "calorie creep" messages that are ongoing on this board.
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