High fructose corn syrup and weight gain

High fructose corn syrup is by now a widely known food culprit, yet it still exists in products on nearly every shelf of the grocery store. One of my favorite studies done at Princeton University demonstrated that rats fed a diet that included HFCS (at levels well below those in soda) gained significantly more weight than rats fed a diet with regular sugar, or rats fed a high-fat diet. Even when the rats consumed larger amounts of sugar than HFCS, the HFCS rats were still the ones to gain more weight, across the board. This suggests that in order to combat obesity, it could be more important to eliminate HFCS from the diet than fat, and that just replacing foods using HFCS with foods that use real sugar could be enough to make a significant difference.

If you want to ditch HFCS, you have to read labels on everything, not just sweets. Bread, yogurt, granola bars, fruit juice, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, etc., as well as most fast food, all frequently contain HFCS. Check the labels of the brands of food already in your kitchen - If you notice that a product you typically buy contains HFCS, plan to look for an alternative next time you shop. You can choose to buy food that is labeled "100% organic" to avoid HFCS completely, or make your own foods from whole ingredients instead of buying processed food, but even if you don't make those larger scale changes right now, you should be able to find a conventional store-bought loaf of bread or jar of spaghetti sauce sweetened with sugar instead of HFCS. Whether you're watching your weight, trying to decrease your risks of heart disease and diabetes, or just working to weed out highly processed foods from your diet, eliminating HFCS is a simple and effective place to start.

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