Your doctor will tell you how bad cigarettes are for you, not to use drugs, and how bad it is to drink too much alcohol or abuse your health with a terrible diet of processed food and snacks. What many doctors don’t take the time to tell you is that there is a substance you probably put in your mouth every single day that tastes really good but should be avoided at all costs.
The substance I am telling you about in this column is high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. It’s a replacement for sugar that first began making an appearance in our food in the 1970s. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in 1970 only 15 percent of Americans were obese. Now, even our children battle weight gain.
What is the problem? Sure, there are other factors, but many of us in the medical community think the substance our processed food manufacturers began to use as a cheaper sweetener years ago is right there at the top of the list.
In my opinion, high-fructose corn syrup is one of the worst things you can put in your body. Some have called it the “crack cocaine” of all sweeteners. I agree.
The Sugar Association is, quite literally, on a mission to educate consumers and promote the consumption of sugar through sound scientific principles. In other words, we want consumers to know exactly what the science is saying when it comes to foods (especially sugar and sweeteners, of course) and how to live a healthy and balanced life.
