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Fructose: Not So Natural... and Not So Safe

January 27, 2003

Fructose and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have been aggressively promoted as natural sugars. After all, we’ve been taught since childhood that fructose is fruit sugar.

The truth is that fructose and HFCS, as large-scale commercial sweeteners, didn’t exist 20 years ago. Now, they’re almost as common as sucrose-plain old white sugar. HFCS is routinely added to processed foods and beverages including Coca-Cola, Snapple, and many health food products.

High fructose consumption has been fingered as a causative factor in heart disease. It raises blood levels of cholesterol and another type of fat, triglyceride. It makes blood cells more prone to clotting, and it may also accelerate the aging process.

Source: Is Fructose Dangerous? From The Nutrition Reporter, where “you’ll find a growing number of magazine and newsletter articles describing recent research on vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, with an emphasis on their therapeutic applications.”

Posted January 27, 2003 06:11 PM