Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Unhealthy - Essay Example

"Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Unhealthy" is an impressive example of a paper on food and nutrition.
This is also called the glucose-fructose syrup or the high fructose maize syrup. It comprises of a group of syrup which undergoes a particular process of enzymes to produce some sweetness. This process involves the conversion of glucose into fructose. A quarter of the components in this syrup are water while the rest comprise of sugars. It is used in beverages, baked foods and soft drinks. Sucrose (table sugar) has faced competition from the glucose-fructose syrup in the United Kingdom. This has been caused by the subsidies in the United States corn, applied tariffs on imports and quotas put by the government on the production of sugar (Aksoy & Beghin, 2005). Therefore, the principal question is; how is high fructose corn syrup unhealthy? This study is carried out to determine the effects of the HFCS on human health.

            With regard to the above introduction, this paper finds out how glucose-fructose syrup consumption is unhealthy to human beings and comes up with a solution as pertains to its consumption. This product faces several critics and arguments are that it is much more harmful for human consumption as opposed to the sucrose.

            The combination of glucose and fructose is monosaccharide while sucrose is a disaccharide. Fructose has been considered to contribute to obesity, diabetes also fatty liver diseases which are not caused by alcohol consumption (Smith, 2006). This leads to a high risk of a heart attack. It is noted that it acts as a source of appetite and may thus lead to abnormal weight gain when over consumed. American medical association criticizes this argument and says that it prefers the high fructose syrup than the normal table sugar.

            According to Pollan (2003), HFCS contains toxic gases. This is harmful to the honey beers since the highly toxic chemicals formed due to temperatures of above 45 degrees. Sucrose is believed to bring about brain disorders similar to those of alcohol drinkers. This is most common in the United States of America. This is not properly evident although some mercury has been found in the previous studies.

However, there has been the lack of sufficient evidence to the above problems but some recommendations are available from the previous researches including:

            In order to curb these disorders, it is advisable for people to consume water and avoid sugary contents. Also, none dietary sodas will be preferred to the sweet beverages (Mark, 1998).

            Limit the amount of nutritious and the frosted cereals, which have attractive sweet tastes, especially to the children when evaluating meals for breakfast (Lorigan, 2007). It is also advisable not to take too much of packed foods like cakes which are more nutritious because they have many cause many health problems.

            Research has shown that high consumption of high fructose corn syrup is harmful to human health if consumed in vast quantities. In contrast, table sugar is also not healthy to consume much of it since it can lead to the emergence of diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Therefore, the recommended solution is that these two goods should be consumed at fewer amounts.