Sugar High?

        When you read and become alarmed by  a meme regarding the "evils" of High Fructose Corn Syrup one would do well to examine the source. One such recent horror story meme comes, not from a doctor or dietician, but from a "blogger" who has a degree in media and journalism. This conspiracy theorist puts forth a list of everything from Acne to liver failure with cellulite and God knows what other horrors (20, in all) thrown in. This isn't journalism, and it also isn't reliable. It is the worst kind of misdirection and lies. without going into significant detail, reality is simple. Don’t fall into the trap thinking that natural sweeteners and natural sugars are somehow better for you.

        Consuming sugar (of any kind) in excess is one of the main players in weight gain, heart disease and diabetes – which then dramatically raises your risk of dying from everything else – like cancer. Being overweight raises your risk of more than a dozen types of cancer, and for some specific cancers, 50% of the cancer cases were attributed to being overweight. (Cancer.org)

        There are several  kinds of sugars used in foods, but the difference between "natural sugars" and HFCS is far less than the fear mongers would have you believe. To begin with, studies comparing the long term negative effects of sugars are based on a diet where participants were given a drink which accounted for 25% of their daily caloric intake, and it was sweetened with HFCS. This is five times the generally accepted daily diet percentage!  If a quarter of your diet is sugar, it really doesn't much matter what the source is! Secondarily, Cane sugar is a plant sugar, just like HFCS, with the slight difference that the fructose -glucose ratio is 50%/50% for Cane sugar and 55%-45% for HFCS. So what? HFCS is sweeter for the same amount of added sugar. Again, so what? So a soda sweetened with HFCS requires less sweetener for the same flavor.   

        The really, really bad scientists, many of whom want to sell you something, are happy to tell you all the possible deleterious effects associated  with diets waaay too high in HFCS. What they fail to tell you is that a diet similarly overloaded in Cane Sugar or honey is essentially just as bad.

        Moral of the story, too much fructose or glucose, regardless of  source, is potentially harmful. Demonizing HFCS sells diet plans and scares the hell out of people who really just need to be told "Too much sugar is bad for you." What really blows my mind is that there are people out there, who, in the quest to eliminate sugar, drink  multiple drinks daily sweetened with Aspartame, which in and of itself has the following bad record:

"By the year 2000, aspartame products were the cause of 80% of complaints to the FDA about food additives. Some of these symptoms include headache, dizziness, change in mood, vomiting or nausea, abdominal pain and cramps, change in vision, diarrhea, seizures/convulsions, memory loss, and fatigue."  This is from real doctors who do real research.  All the rest is just bullshit scare tactics. If, however you choose to take medical advice from a blogger, you probably deserve whatever happens.