The Obesity Epidemic

The HFCS(High Fructose Corn Syrup) Conspiracy
Americans are slowly being poisoned to obesity and then death by their own food industry in the last 30 years. What has HFCS gotta do with it? Read all about it here.

Before living in the US, my impression of fat and obese Americans is usually linked to McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Somehow, this is not that far from the truth. The next time you drink your can of fizzy coke/7-Up/soda, take a good look at the list of ingredients that make up this drink. Does it contain HFCS? If yes, STOP drinking it.

Somehow, I am not so concerned about those of you living in Asia or elsewhere in the world other than the US - this poison is only approved for use mainly in the US in its food and beverage industry mainly for one reason - cheap alternative sugar. Compared to the natural cane sugar(that does NOT make us obese), this HFCS is so cheap it makes China blush.

Ever wonder how does one actually finish drinking the entire super-sized "sugar-loaded" coke when you order a McDonald's value meal? Our body was never designed to be obese so there are built-in mechanisms in place. Signals are always sent to our brain to stop eating once the body has enough food so that we can achieve a balance.

Upsize your children 20-25%!

Normally, you will only drink up perhaps 1/3 of your coke before your brain starts to send signals to your body that it has enough sugar in the system and you should stop consuming. When beverage companies started introducing HFCS into their sodas in the 80's, sales shot through the roof as costs went down(no more expensive natural cane sugar) and people started consuming more. Why? With HFCS, the process of sending signals to your brain to stop drinking, no longer functions as it simply bypasses this process. You do not stop drinking even though you are full so that the end result is that you just consume more. Innocently. Exactly what the food industry loves. HFCS tricks the body into wanting to eat/drink more and at the same time, the fat stores up. The sad thing is that they put HFCS in so much food that you consume it unknowingly these days. A single 12-ounce can of soda has as much as 13 teaspoons of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Anyone drinking more than 1 can of soda a day? Hmmm...?? Read more scary news here.

Not only is it prevalent in the beverage industry, HFCS is used in literally EVERYTHING up and down the supermarket aisles. In bread, in candies, in soups, in ketchup, in low-fat yoghurt, in potato chips, in bagels, in cereals, in almost every processed food and I can keep going with the list. It is a pain for me to shop for food cos I always have to put back the food I wanted back on the shelves once I spot the HFCS small print. Any au naturel food without HFCS - is always more expensive. Price pushes demand and the vicious cycle continues to ravage the consumer's choices and health inevitably.

Michael Pollan traced the obesity epidemic to HFCS in his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and I fear not enough Americans are reading these kind of books. He is singing a song nobody wants to hear, especially the giant food corporations.

63% of Americans are obese and childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last 20years. Compared to the statistics of 555,500 deaths caused by cancer each year, obesity causes 300,000 deaths per year. I think Americans should spend their tax money more wisely instead of war to help their own people to fight their food industry giants and control the epidemic before it is too late.

Now we can only hope(and pray) that scientific facts will help push legislators to put in the correct regulations and save the Americans from further conspiratorial abuse by profit-minded corporations.

I guess one can be easily frightened into supporting government into war-mongering by fears of terrorism, BUT when one is coerced into putting harmful food into our bodies by profit-mongering corporations and lobbyists, it is time to stand up for yourselves and your loved ones.