Stuff You Should Know - Is high fructose corn syrup bad for you?

Episode Date: April 28, 2009

High fructose corn syrup gets a bad rap, but is it deserved? Tune in as Josh and Chuck discuss the origins of this ubiquitous sweetener -- and why it's not so sweet for your health -- in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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available now exclusively on iTunes. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Chuck Bryant, right? Josh, you want a bite? I thought you loved me. I do. Take two bites. But it's got high fructose corn syrup in it. So? Well, you know what they say about that stuff. And what? That it's made from corn, has the same calories as sugar, honey, and is fine in moderation. You only brought one? The end. End scene. Chuck, I feel dirty right now. Yes, we were clearly riffing on popular commercial. Yes. Chouting high fructose corn syrup. Yeah, which is kind of a big deal these days, right, Chuck?

It is indeed. Yeah. So Chuck and I are going to talk about high fructose corn syrup and, you know, maybe some of the concerns, what it is, and whether or not it actually is bad for you. So we will get to that right this moment, right? And welcome to Matt, our guest producer for the week. Yes, thank you for Matt for filling in for Jerry, who is on vacation, hopefully not enduring any life-threatening circumstances, as is usually the case, right? And we love young and talented Matt, so welcome. Yeah. Young, talented, and well-groomed Matt. Yes. How's it going, Matt? All right, so I'm the high fructose corn syrup, Chuck. Okay. So this stuff didn't exist before 1957. Did you know that? I did. Okay. Let me explain a little

further there. Okay. Okay. So in 1957, some researchers figured out that you could take glucose and corn syrup. I think corn syrup is like all glucose. Right. And glucose is one of our primary energy sources. Right. And did you know that insulin's job is to actually go in and basically open the cellular membrane to let the glucose in for burning? I did. Okay. Well, anyway, so if you want a lot of energy, you could basically pound a bottle of corn syrup. Right. Just plain old corn syrup. Right. But these researchers figured out in 1957 that if you added a couple of enzymes at different stages, you could convert glucose into fructose. Right. And fructose, Josh, as you know, is naturally occurring. It's a simple sugar that's produced

by a lot of different plants. Yeah. And it's really, really sweet, and it's more soluble in water than glucose, which is also a simple sugar. So that's why it's good for things like soft drinks and products like that. Plus it's also cheaper. Well, yeah, sure. And we'll get to the reason why it's cheaper in a minute. Did we mention my cold in this one? No, you have a cold. I have a terrible cold. Everyone, I'm very sorry if I do that. So my apologies in advance. Right. Right. But we also should say really quick too, just so people have their sugar understanding. There's also table sugars, what people probably think of as sugar. That is sucrose. And that's what you get when you combine fructose and glucose. Well, that's what high fructose corn syrup is as

well. Right. It's a common, it's sucrose too. It's just in a slightly different amount. There's about 10% more fructose than high fructose corn syrup than there is in common table sugar. Right. Which doesn't sound like a lot initially. It doesn't. But we'll get to that. Don't give it away yet. Okay. So 1957, they figured this out. There's the enzymatic action. And then by the boom, by the bing, you've got high fructose corn syrup. I get the impression that at the time, it was probably a very costly process. Yeah, in the 50s, sure. And then in the 70s, people went back to it and they basically perfected the process, made it cheaper. Now, the concept of using high fructose corn syrup really dovetails nicely with what we here in

the States call the Farm Bill. And that is this massive bill, which they deliberate every five or seven years. I'm not sure actually. I can't remember either. Anyway, the Farm Bill gives tons of money to corn producers to the point where you can overproduce corn. Corn, we do not need because everybody's got a cob in their mouth and they'll still get money for it. Right. Plus corn is useful in a lot of different ways. So like corn syrup, right? And ethanol. Right. The list goes on. So we have an abundance and overabundance really of corn. And Chuck, yeah, that's absolutely true. There was you can use corn and ethanol. You can use it in high fructose corn syrup. The thing is, is we used to before the 70s and we started throwing corn into corn syrup production.

Right. We used to send a lot of that surplus corn to Africa, right? As food aid. So in the 70s, on the day that they perfected the high fructose corn syrup process, some poor Ethiopian showedered and didn't know why. That was why. Really? Oh, yeah. Food aids definitely dried up and people also make the argument that the same. We're going to have an even bigger problem with food. Not just exporting it, but here too, if it becomes a viable fuel like ethanol. So they're basically going to be using up the corn for the high fructose corn syrup, ethanol, and there's not enough to feed the world. Is that what you're saying? They'll use it for whatever they can make the most money off of. Obviously. Yes. Good point. Yeah. So okay. So that was my

little aside. My little hippie liberal aside there, Chuck. Very nice. Okay. So in the 70s, we've got the high fructose corn syrup thing down and the world becomes a wash in the stuff. Right. It's an absolutely everything. It is. And it's in products that you would never even think associate with sweetness. Like it becomes corn syrup isn't very sweet initially, but high fructose corn syrup is really sweet. Yeah. And it's in things like crackers that you wouldn't even imagine. And they're starting to put it in meats too because it's a great preservative. So that's again, there's only 10% more fructose in high fructose corn syrup than there is in regular table sugar. Right. And everybody knows you should eat sugar in moderation, honey. Right.

So I guess approaching it in that respect, you wouldn't really think that there's any kind of problems with it. Right. But it's really taken hold. It has. And also this, I think the thing that, that really started to generate concern is over the past couple of decades, it's become clear that about the time high fructose corn syrup replaced table sugar in products like soft drinks, that kind of thing. The incidence of type two diabetes and obesity in the US started to climb as well. Right. I got a step for you. I want to hear it. If you're talking how much it's really taken over the other sugars in 1970, more than 83% of sweetener consumed in the US was sucrose. By 1997, it dropped to 43%, almost in half. And the rest of the sweetener, 57% was high

fructose corn syrup. Yeah. And that was in 97. Now I bet it's even off the charts. It's even more prevalent. And so yeah, so public opinions starting to turn, which is why the corn counselor, somebody started that ad campaign. Right. And what's the problem? Well, the problem is, I got another stat which can kind of indicate it. They did a study of 1400 middle school students and they found that nearly one third of their caloric intake was added sugars. And we're not talking about fruits and vegetable sugars. No. Those are called natural sugars. Right. They're not usually taken into account when you're talking about sugar intake. Right. Added sugar is stuff like high fructose corn syrup. It's not naturally occurring. Right. So one third. And so in 2005,

they did another study, another study, sorry. And Americans that year consumed 42 pounds of high fructose corn syrup per person. Okay. But again, you can say, well, they could be consuming table sugar in the same amounts. They could be getting the same caloric intake from table sugar in the same amounts. What's the problem? Why is everyone picking on high fructose corn syrup? Do you want me to tell you? Sounds like a great setup. Okay. Thanks. I just set myself off. You know, there's like a self alley. Oops. No, you throw it up and then you jump up and slam it. You dunk it. I have no idea. A boomerang. I don't know. It's like a Frisbee that you can play with by yourself. We'll go. No, it's not like that at all. It's basketball. Since Australians are writing

in now. Yeah. We just raised their ire. Again, I'm going to set myself up. Okay. Do you want to know why? I'll tell you why. Here's the problem with fructose. Our bodies don't use it like we use glucose. No. Like glucose is such a common energy source for us that we can metabolize it just about any way. It can go to just about any cell or organ or, you know, anywhere in the body and say, Hey, metabolize me, pal. Right. And all of a sudden we've got some energy, right? Mm-hmm. With fructose, there's only one organ that can possibly metabolize it. And that's the liver. That's right. And the liver has a certain limit of how much fructose it will process in their energy. Right. And after that, it turns them into triglycerides, which we like to call fats.

Yep. So that's one of the problems. Right. Well, and since it's in everything from like bread to crackers and things that seemingly in meats for preservatives, it's we're getting way, way too much of it. Sure. It's kind of like that episode of Seinfeld where like everybody's eating this low fat yogurt. Yeah. Can't believe it's low fat, but it turns out it's not. They had it tested. Exactly. Yeah. So everybody's putting on all this weight. And I think that's kind of what happened to America over the last couple of decades. We're unknowingly consuming this tremendous amount of sugar and it gets converted into fats very easily. And all of a sudden we're a fat diabetic nation. Right. I've got some stats. I love your stats. Chuck, put your hand on my knee while you read them.

I will. In 2007, and this is kind of makes sense, Colorado is the only state in the whole country with less than 20% of its population qualifying as obese. Yeah. So they're very healthy out there. Yeah. They hike and all that stuff, which is good. And another one for as far as diabetes goes between 94 and 2004, a new diagnosis of type two diabetes increased by 23%, which is a big jump. And a lot of people think that the HFCS has something to do with that. Yeah. Way to throw an acronym in there, buddy. You like that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. In 1980, cocaine was captivating and corrupting Miami. Miami had become the murder capital of the United States. They were making millions of dollars. I would categorize it as the Wild Wild West. Unleashing a wave of violence.

My God. Took a walk into the devil's den. The car fells. They just killed everybody that was home. They start pulling out pictures of Clay Williams' body taken out in the Everglades. A world orbiting around a mysterious man with a controversial claim. This drug pilot by the name of Lamar Chester. He never ran anything but grass until I turned over that load of coke to him on the island. Chester would claim he did it all for the CIA. Pulling many into a sprawling federal investigation. So Clay wasn't the only person who was murdered? Oh, no, not by a long shot. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco. Join me for murder in Miami. Listen to murder in Miami on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1968, five black girls

dressed in oversized military fatigues were picked up by the police in Montgomery, Alabama. I was tired and just didn't want to take it anymore. The girls had run away from a reform school called the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, and they were determined to tell someone about the abuse they'd suffered there. Picture the worst environment for children that you possibly can. I believe Mt. Mays was patterned after slavery. I didn't understand why I had to go through what I was going through and for what. I'm writer and reporter Josie Duffy Rice. And in a new podcast, I investigate how this reform school went from being a safe haven for black kids to a nightmare, and how those five black girls changed everything.

All that on unreformed. Listen to unreformed on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Can I say one other problem with fructose? Yes. Okay. It is that there is 10% more in high fructose corn syrup than in regular table sugar. Right. And when you start to eat a lot of it, and it starts to appear in all sorts of different foods, then 10% really starts to add up. Absolutely. So that would also account for why we're a much meatier country than we were before. Right. Except Colorado, of course. Everything's fine in Colorado. Right. But ultimately, again, back on the metabolic level, there's been studies that show that the taste of artificial sweeteners or added sugars like high fructose corn syrup actually make us want to eat more.

Yeah. Amazing. It has nothing to do with what we're doing with it metabolically. It's the taste. We love the taste so much. It's like crack to us. So when we eat something that contains glucose, right, when we eat anything generally, there's this chemical that's produced in the stomach. It's called ghrelin. I know it's got a terrible name, but it's actually really important. Ghrelin travels up to the brain and says, okay, stop. This person doesn't need to eat anymore. Here she's full. We got all the nutrients we need down here, so just cut it off for a little while, and then another chemical will let you know when we're hungry. Right. We don't produce ghrelin when we eat fructose. So the brain's never getting the signals that it's used to getting,

saying stop, which is why you can sit there and eat little Debbie Brownies by the box full all day long. Nutty bars. Yeah, those are good. Swiss cake rolls ain't too bad either. No, they're all good. Yeah. Not to pick on little Debbie. It's a little Debbie is a fine fine company and far from the only company using high fructose corn syrup. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. We love you little Debbie. So Josh, I think we're at the point now where we can talk about what you can do if you're worried about something like this. Which you should lay it on. Well, clearly everything in moderation, just like the cheesy little commercial says that we mocked. But what you need to do is you need to start checking the packaging of your of your foods and better yet,

you can try to start avoiding packaged foods as much as you can. That's really where it's at. I mean, I had a friend that had high blood pressure and his doctor said you can do a couple of things. You can either get on this medication or you can start eating fresh foods and avoid packaged foods. Did you go with the medication? No, yeah, absolutely. No, no, he controlled it through diet, dude. And he quit buying anything in a box, anything in a package. He just found like in the yard. Yeah, he ate fresh fruits and vegetables. He ate meat. And his blood pressure dropped dramatically. Well, meats he found in the yard. Yeah, he ate cats. He raised cattle. But yeah, I mean, it's always best to avoid packaged foods when you

look at the any kind of packaged food ingredients. It's kind of frightening what's in there. Well, one of the problems is that high fructose corn syrup is substantially cheaper than regular sugar. It is. So that means the food prices are cheaper, which is, I guess by extension or my hypothesis or theory, I would say, because I'm sure it's been tested. Why the poorer classes also tend to be the most malnourished, right? Because the stuff that they're eating is so processed, so packaged and so chock full of not just stuff like high fructose corn syrup, but all sorts of other preservatives and additives that we shouldn't be eating, but are cheap and allow companies to produce cheap food. It's a horrible vicious cycle. I mean, try eating organic

in this economy, pal. You can't do it. Well, true. You have to be like filthy rich to eat organic these days. That's not true. But you know what's not cheap? A diabetes. No, that's true. It's an excellent point. And hospital stays and heart attacks. So do yourself a favor. You'll save some dough in the long run if you if you eat better and take care of yourself. Plus you'll keep your foot. Yeah, true. So there's high fructose corn syrup. We I guess we'll just sit back and expect an angry season. This is letter from the corn council or somebody, right? We love corn. Corn's great. I love corn on the cob. Like you would not believe me too. It's one of my favorites. Yep. Anyway, that's high fructose corn syrup and followed by our disclaimer that Chuck and I actually

do like corn and American farmers and America in general. So there you go. And bless America. Are we plugging anything these days? We can give a quick mention to the blog. You know, we have a blog on the website you can access. And I think most folks are catching on now. We're getting some good numbers. And hell, let's plug the thing that we're making money off of. Well, yeah, sure. Okay. The super stuff guide to the economy with Josh and Chuck. Yep. You can buy that for four bucks on iTunes and learn about economics and get a little better understanding of what's going on in the world. Yep. And is it time for listener mail? Yeah, Chuck. So, Josh, I was impressed with this one. I've heard. This is not a haiku, but it is a poem.

And a 17 year old named Daniel in Colorado wrote us a sonnet. There's like a more than an 80% chance he's not obese. Oh, really? Oh, cause in Colorado. All right. So here we go from Daniel. I would that there were just one reason why the podcast did delight me fully so that I might be in hasty time supply, a nicely packaged blurb. So you might know. I'll ask no single reason will suffice. The podcast is a pleasure. Labyrinthine to try to craft a reason to precise would make a burly rope of stingy twine. But in those fleeting moments in the night, one wonders, does one really need to know whether one can really die of fright or if how anger works is apropos. But though it may be triviality, the podcast comes to us completely free. How about that?

That was great. I couldn't write one of these. Oh no, definitely not. So try fitting labyrinthine in. I know. So Daniel in Colorado, 17 years old, you are awesome. Is he an adult? He's 17. No. Okay. Great. Good to know that he may or may not be an adult. Either way, thank you very much, Daniel. We appreciate the effort. And we've always also said you can only gripe so much because it is free, right? Sure. Thank you for supporting that point. If you want to send us a gorgeous poem or just type the word labyrinthine in an email and send it to us, you can shoot that over to Stuff Podcast at howstuffworks.com. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that will piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting?

Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. On the new podcast, The Turning Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balangene. He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you, only I can see you. What you're doing is larger than yourself, almost like a religion. Like he was a god. Listen to The Turning Room of Mirrors on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.