Effects Of The Use and Abuse Of High Fructose Corn Syrup and Other Man-Made Sweeteners

Balance is the single most important detail when considering what to consume and how a specific food affects your diet and overall quality of life. No single food is inherently bad for you and will not significantly affect your health when consumed in moderate or small amounts, but some foods can cause damage when consumed consistently or added to your general diet and meal plan. The use of sugars and the effects of their long-term use have been debated for years, but some sugars have proven to have worse consequences on a consumer's health when consumed in high amounts as compared to others.
Sucrose is an effective sweetening agent that has been in use for years, but it has been gradually replaced by fructose and other artificial sweeteners, which have proven to be more cost-effective and sweeter. But the use of these artificial sweeteners, like high-fructose corn syrup, has proven to have even more detrimental effects than regular sugars. The use of these artificial sweeteners has become more prominent in recent decades, especially in soda-producing companies and other companies that produce sugary foods. There are multiple adverse effects caused by the consistent use of high-fructose corn syrup and other man-made sugars. Here are a few of them:

Weight gain

It is estimated that around 60% of the United States population is overweight. A consequence of the excess consumption of artificial sweeteners and other sugars is an increase in the fat deposits around the liver. Being overweight as a result of these sweeteners can lead to a number of other diseases, like diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases.

“Fructose goes straight to your liver and starts a fat production factory," Dr. Hyman said in an article from the Cleveland Clinic. These sweeteners trigger the production of triglycerides and cholesterol. Dr. Hyman further highlighted how high consumption of fructose can “punch little holes in your intestinal lining, causing what we call a leaky gut.” This can cause proteins and other food particles to leak into your bloodstream, leading to inflammation and eventually weight gain.

A distorted diet

Fructose has generally been in the diet of humans for centuries. It is classified as a simple sugar, and it is normally present in fruits like apples, dates, pears, and prunes. However, the consumption of fructose has skyrocketed over the past few decades because of its application in sweets and carbonated drinks.

High-fructose corn syrup is sweeter than regular sugars like glucose; this might seem like an advantage at first, but it leaves consumers with a craving that can be described as nothing short of addiction. These cravings lead to a multitude of health issues, like obesity and other issues, in populations, especially of industrialized nations.

Liver disorders

Fructose can only be broken down by the cells of the liver, which can lead to a number of complications, especially when consumed in excess. Fructose promotes visceral fat accumulation. Visceral fat surrounds your organs and is the most harmful type of body fat. It’s linked to health issues like diabetes and heart disease. These fructose molecules turn into fat, which is stored around the liver. A study that involved patients being administered sugary beverages containing high fructose for a duration of 6 months found that the patients had shown increases in fat in the liver by the end of the study.

The increase in the accumulation of these fats can lead to a complication known as fatty liver disease and even other diseases like type 2 diabetes. Fatty liver disease can lead to liver damage and inflammation, which can lead to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a serious condition that can cause liver scarring, liver cancer, and even liver failure.

Insulin resistance

In a 2017 review by PubMed Central, it was found that excess consumption of dietary fructose can lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, also known as impaired insulin sensitivity, happens when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond as they should to insulin, a hormone your pancreas makes that’s essential for life and regulating blood glucose (sugar) levels.
In healthy people, insulin increases the body's response to consuming excess carbohydrates by transporting them out of the bloodstream and into the cells. Excessive consumption of fructose can cause the body to be resistant to the effects of insulin. Over a period of time, this decreases the body's ability to respond to rising sugar levels, causing both blood sugar levels and insulin levels to rise. This can lead to a condition known as type 2 diabetes: a situation where the body cannot produce insulin or where the body cannot use insulin properly, leaving the blood at a consistently high sugar level.

Cancer

The problems high fructose corn syrup can cause do not end with diabetes, as they could lead to even worse complications like colorectal cancer.

In a PubMed 2021 study, it was shown that consuming too much fructose can promote intestinal tumor growth in mice. It was also shown in a 2019 study that in mice prone to developing intestinal tumors, high fructose corn syrup seemed to make the tumors more aggressive and cause them to grow faster, but they were not sure why. Recent research has found that fructose did not make the tumors grow faster; instead, it caused the tumors to last a longer time. Mice already experiencing colorectal cancer were far more likely to suffer from anemia, which further diminished their chances of survival.

Further complications

High-fructose corn syrup and other man-made sugars have been shown to cause inflammation, which is associated with an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but they could also lead to other complications. They could worsen inflammatory diseases like gout. Excess fructose may also increase harmful substances called advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which may harm your cells.
Conclusion

No class of food is inherently bad, but understanding what you eat and the regularity with which these foods should be eaten is of unequivocal importance. "We are what we eat," a popular quote used to describe the effects of what we eat on our bodies, could not be more true, as our food and the balance to which we eat it have a literal impact on the quality of our lives

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