New She is You article dropped on June 10th!
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a cheap sweetener that has serious ramifications for our health. It contains a higher amount of fructose than occurs naturally in foods. This influx of fructose taxes the liver as it is the only tissue that can process fructose. This can lead to fatty liver, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and metabolic dysfunction according to the National Institutes of Health.
A previous article of mine reported that Americans consume too much sugar. This article discusses that we also consume too much HFCS. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau: “In 2009, the average American consumed about 35.7 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup.”
Fatty liver is a serious disease whose major causes are alcohol consumption and consuming excess sugars. An article from Harvard Health discusses that early fatty liver can be reversed with lifestyle changes but if left to progress, can result in scarring (cirrhosis) of the liver.
If you want to see the specific biochemical process that occurs in the liver when you consume HFCS, check it out here. But the takeaway remains - avoiding HFCS is a great decision for your health!