News

Our monthly nutritional news letter with the latest research and thinking.

Unnaturally sweet and the perfect Christmas gravy

The rise in consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is truly a wonder of the modern age. Break down a perfectly healthy food into its basic components and then repackage it as processed food. Conduct no long term research into its impact on public health and saturate the market with it. Before long it becomes an integral part of our food culture and is almost impossible to avoid. So, what is it?

Most people are surprised to hear that the majority of sweeteners in processed food come from corn. In a complicated, industrial and highly chemical process HFCS is produced by processing corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. Unfortunately for us, this process is made cheap by American Government funding and is an ideal outlet for US corn producers and their unwanted genetically modified wares. (Before I get any complaints pointing out that not all US corn is genetically modified, I would point out that at least two of the enzymes used in HFCS production most certainly are.)

So, why is this stuff bad for you? After all we are told that fructose is one of the safer sweeteners. The medical profession tells us that fructose is safer for diabetics to consume than sugar. Sugar (sucrose) is made up of fructose and glucose but it now appears that the fructose part of sugar is far more damaging when delivered in higher quantities than nature intended. Processed and no longer ‘bound up’ in sucrose, the fructose also becomes more readily available, causing it to ‘flood’ our system. Once in there HFCS is known to deplete chromium, an important mineral that helps us process glucose, contributing to blood sugar irregularities.

Furthermore, every cell in the body has a mechanism for metabolising glucose but only the liver can metabolise fructose. The liver then has a tendency to convert much of it to fat. So consumption of HFCS puts an additional strain on the liver, not unlike alcohol. This may be one of the reasons for the incredible rise in non alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition virtually unheard of 30 years ago. This is when the liver of someone that drinks alcohol in moderation (or not at all), resembles that of an alcoholic, due entirely to their diet. When you consider how widespread the use of HFCS is, especially in children’s food, then alarm bells should surely be ringing. Worryingly, they aren’t.

The list of companies using HFCS is far too extensive for me to publish here so I’ll just give you a flavour of how widespread it is.

• Capri Sun
• Most if not all canned and bottled soft drinks from the USA
• Kellogg’s
• Sara Lee (Heart healthy bread)
• Heinz
• Nutri Grain
• Vicks (yes the cough syrup)
• Ocean spray
• Ben and Jerry’s
• Tropicana smoothies

Frankly it would be easier to produce a list of what doesn’t contain HFCS.

You can avoid it by always checking the labels, eating plenty of home made food and steering well clear of canned and bottled soft drinks.

The perfect gravy

This will be my last news letter before the new year so I’d like to end on a positive note and give you the best Christmas tip that I can. After an exhaustive search I can confirm that Jamie Oliver’s ‘consistently good gravy‘ truly is consistently good. No matter how much you struggle with the roast dinner, this is a simple and enjoyable way of making a perfect, tasty and nutritious gravy to top it all off.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a fantastic holiday season and a wonderful new year. Happy eating.

These recommendations are not comprehensive and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or pharmacist