We Knew It; Now Research Has Proven It

New Research Suggests High Fructose Corn Syrup Triggers Addictive Consumption Similar to Drugs Industrial Sweetener Implicated as Cause of Global Obesity Epidemic

Follow Us on: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest Dear Citizen for Health, Washington, D.C.  – New research by a neuroscientist has found that lab animals  self-dosing on High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the industrial sweetener  used in hundreds of grocery store products, followed the same pattern  of behavior as those that were self-dosing on cocaine. Addiction  expert, Dr. Francesco Leri, an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and  Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Guelph in Ontario,  Canada, presented new research  to the Canadian Association for Neuroscience that showed how High  Fructose Corn Syrup caused behavioral reactions in rats similar to those  produced by addictive drugs. He concluded that, “Addiction to unhealthy  foods could help explain the global obesity epidemic.”   Read more here, and take action now!   Sign the Petition

Cancer Feeds on Fructose

This came to my attention this afternoon, and is the perfect complement to the sugar post: the twin evils of sucrose and fructose (especially high fructose corn syrup). The title of the article, cited on GreenMedInfo.com is:

Cancer Feeds on Fructose, America’s #1 Source of Calories

(and isn’t THAT a scary thought)

Post date:

Wednesday, April 11th 2012 at 6:00 am by Anthony Gucciardi

High-fructose corn syrup is the primary source of calories in the United States. In addition to containing mercury, a known carcinogen, cancer cells actually feed on high-fructose corn syrup after it is metabolized by the liver. A recent study, published in the Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, examined the link between refined sugar and cancer. The results add further evidence to the reports of many health experts and scientific studies that have drawn the connection between excess sugar consumption and the development of cancer.

The researchers highlighted the numerous ways in which fructose directly contributes to cancer risk and other health problems, including:

• DNA damage
• Inflammation
• Altered cellular metabolism
• Increased production of free radicals

According to Lewis Cantley, director of the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School, as much as 80 percent of all cancers are “driven by either mutations or environmental factors that work to enhance or mimic the effect of insulin on the incipient tumor cells.”

To read the rest of this article, please go HERE.

Epigenetics: how environment affects gene expression. Our overuse of fructose and sucrose is ruining our health….

Snack Manufacturers Know What They Are Doing

Here is some great insider info compliments of my intern Brittany DeNoon.

My introduction to the practice of reading labels began as an employee at Frito Lay/Pepsico headquarters in Plano, Texas. For over two years I worked alongside food scientists, engineers and marketing staff in the Research and Development (R &D) division. It was there I learned how ingredients are required to be listed on product labels (starting with the main ingredient, by weight, and continuing in descending order). So I learned how to change the first ingredients of a label list with a simple recipe reformulation. But perhaps the most important thing I learned was how corporate interests can insinuate themselves into their employees’ consciousness and ethical systems. In other words, the scientists I worked with put Frito Lay’s bottom line ahead of their knowledge of nutrition.

During my time with Frito I worked mostly with Quaker on a granola bar redesign.  As a strategy to keep sugars or sweeteners from the being the “first” on the ingredients list, our formulas used a variety of sweeteners like fructose, high fructose corn syrup, and corn syrup solids. By using an array of processed sugars, “granola” could then be legally listed as the product’s main ingredient (even though “granola“ itself was a combination of oats and sugars). We did this often and with many other products. Label altering was/is a conscious and common practice in the food industry, often exchanged as brilliant information by those responsible for it’s discovery.

In addition to my lab lessons, all of the R& D employees I interacted with were active and conscious about their decisions and schemes to hoodwink the consumer. Intelligent scientists (many with degrees in nutrition), engineers and business people (almost all Ivy Leaguers) were pursuing the corporate climb. They knowingly worked in a place where innovations like the ingredient list loophole provided advancement and pay increase opportunities. I listened to the marketing department pitch how to make products seem more wholesome and healthy. I recall a particular strategizing session on how to hook “stay at home moms” to buy cookies as a healthy snack. Marketing was aware that many consumers were starting to read food labels. This also came just before the phase out of hydrogenated oils in snack foods. Frito’s marketers were psyched that they were ahead of the curve here; however, they had no compunction of putting in more sugar as they removed hydrogenated oils.

When it comes to food additives, Frito’s scientists were much more secretive….For example, when I asked about soy lecithin, I was given the explanation of it’s emulsifying properties needed to make the product “work” better. But when I asked about a particular chemical that I couldn’t even pronounce, they became evasive, and I was made to feel as though I asked too many questions.

It’s been almost 10 years since my time at Frito, and I am wondering what else they are now adding to their snack foods, and what effect it is having in people’s bodies.

This blog was written by Brittany DeNoon, who is currently interning with me here at Iris Herbal the week of Sept. 6th. She has a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies, and wants to be an organic farmer. Go  HERE to see Brittany’s blog about her travels (she just got back from a stint in Korea teaching English to primary school children).