Everybody in America has heard of high fructose corn syrup. Some people have no idea what it is or what it is used for. Some also say it is good for you while some say it is really bad. High fructose corn syrup is an alternate sweetener to white sugar. Americans, on average, consume over 40 pounds a year of high fructose corn syrup compared to only 1/2 pound per year back in the 1970’s. This sweetener is being put in more and more food products on a daily basis. High fructose corn syrup is in breads, cereal, soft drinks, beer, juices, candy bars, condiments, fast food, cookies, cakes, cough syrups, ice cream, salad dressings, and many more! It is very hard to avoid eating anything with high fructose corn syrup because it seems to be in all foods. There are foods and drinks out there that are ‘all-natural’ but do not let this fool you. The word ‘natural’ is not regulated very well by the FDA and a lot of companies use this as a form of smart marketing. Take a look at any all-natural product and note the high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. If you want to avoid high fructose corn syrup then you need to find products that are ‘all-organic’. 100% all-organic products are regulated by the FDA with stricter guidelines and will contain no high fructose corn syrup. If you eat a lot of the foods mentioned above you need to begin consuming less of them. High fructose corn syrup has consumer benefits but actually causes more harm than good.
High fructose corn syrup provides sweetness, freshness, soft texture, flavor enhancement, etc. These benefits only pertain to the food they are in. High fructose corn syrup makes the food more enjoyable to eat because it has everything our taste buds crave. Besides the food benefits of high fructose corn syrup it mainly causes health risks. A lot of research has shown that little consumption of HFCS will have little impact on whoever eats it in terms of health risks. But the problem here is that HFCS is like a poison. Little amounts of poison added to your food will have no effect in very small amounts. After years of eating this poison, it eventually accumulates so much that your body begins to change and you will get sick. Think of HFCS the same way as you would as being a poison. Kids especially are at a higher risk for obesity because everything they eat seems to have HFCS in it. They start out young eating this HFCS and by the time they are in high school, they are 50 pounds overweight. This does not mean it was their fault but rather the parents fault for not knowing what their kids are eating. Long exposures to HFCS will eventually lead to being overweight and eventually lead to health problems.
High fructose corn syrup is an artificial additive that many companies use because it is actually cheaper and easier to manufacturer. This simple fact just goes to show that most companies are in it for the money and could seriously care less about consumer health. Avoiding HFCS products is a great start to making sure you avoid gaining weight. How can you know if a product contains HFCS? The easiest way to know the answer to this question is by looking at the ingredients right underneath the nutrition label. When reading the ingredients in a food product, the first ingredient listed is the one that is found most in that product. For example, most bread contains enriched flour. The ingredients in bread will show enriched flour as being the first ingredient listed. 
Therefore, there is more enriched flour in this particular bread than any other ingredient it has to offer. Some beverages list sugar, or high fructose corn syrup as their number one and most used ingredient. A 12 oz. Pepsi contains 103% of your daily allowance of high fructose corn syrup. How many pops do you drink a day? Cutting out items like pop and other sweets, and lowering you daily intake of HFCS, will lead you in the right direction of healthier living. Although high fructose corn syrup proves great benefits for foods and beverages, it shows no benefits for us as humans. Even though a product may look and smell delicious, it most likely contains more than your daily allowance of high fructose corn syrup. Try to avoid this sweetener all together, but if you cannot, then cut back on it by at least half.
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