High Fructose Corn Syrup Horrible For ADD/ADHD

2. February 2009 by Shirley.

Have you seen the commercial where the couple are talking about HFCS? The boyfriend is concerned about eating his girlfriend’s popisicle because it’s got HFCS in it. His girlfriend says, “What? That it’s natural and made from corn? And that in moderation, it’s perfectly fine.” I guess the Corn Refiners Association has a new PR agent. I was totally shocked with disbelief when I first saw this commercial. Un fricking believeable!! How totally misleading is this commerical??? Well first of all, HFCS is in EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! Go to your kitchen cabinets right now and start reading the back of the labels. If you threw everything out that contained HFCS, you wouldn’t have anything left to eat. And for the items that you do have left, they are either artificial sweeten or have MSG which isn’t any better. HFCS is in sodas, bread, soups (chicken noodle, cream of mushroom, vegtable soup, etc), ketchup, beer, health bars, cereals, popsicles, yogurts, sauces (such as Worcester, spaghetti sauce, etc), puddings, maple syrups, pop tarts, etc… Basically anything that comes in wrapper, is pretty much sweetened with HFCS. Most of these products are marketed to our children in vending machines at our schools.

Second, simple sugars suppress your immune system, causes hormonal imbalance, causes chromium deficiency, interferes with absorption for calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins. If you read my e-book, blogs, or website you are already awaere that ADD/ADHD are highly deficient in their minerals and B vitamins. I could keep going and going with the amount of damage sugar can cause to one’s body. And HFCS is even worse than sugar! Fructose from corn is a natural sugar derived from corn syrup. BUT High Fructose Corn Syrup goes through many more chemical processes (extractions, drying, etc..) than simple fructose. NOTE: It’s in the extra chemical processes that make HFCS so lethal.

And third, let me briefly cover 7 important factors you need to know about HFCS especially if you or your child have ADD/ADHD:

1. Causes obesity because the body doesn’t  process HFCS like it does sugar causing you to crave more food.

2. In the liver, it creates larger amounts of triglycerides, which increases the risk of heart disease.

3. Induces insulin resistance. Carbohydrates cause your body to produce insulin. But HFCS is different from carbs because it doesn’t stimulate insulin production. So instead of burning the calories for energy, your body ends up storing them as fat right from the get go. Without insulin, your appetite has no shut-off mechanism causing you to over eat.

4. Increases a dangerous type of fat in the blood and causes high blood pressure.

5. HFCS is a MAJOR factor in negative behavioral reactions in both children and adults today. It can result in hyperactivity, lack of focus, and fatigue. Just by decreasing HFCS will increase good behavior.

6. When coming off ADD/ADHD medication, it’s extremely important that you limit your sugar intake especially HFCS. This will help reduce blood sugar spikes. Phase 2 and Chromium help with decreasing sugar cravings and balancing blood level. I know for boys it’s not a big deal if they are eating like a horse once off ADD/ADHD medication. However for girls eating uncontrollably is not a bonus.

7. And worst of all, most of commercial HFCS are contamination with mercury when it goes through the process of extraction. FYI, heavy metal toxicity already is a common problem with ADD/ADHD. Products that were tested and contained mercury contaminated HFCS are: Quaker, Hunt’s, Manwich, Hershey’s, Smuckers, Kraft, Nutri-Grain, and Yoplait. Check it out: http://healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=105026

So do you still think HFCS is perfectly safe?? I’ll be honest here and admit that I will sometimes marinate with teriyaki sauce plus we still go out to eat as a family once every 2 weeks. It’s very difficult trying to find products without HFCS but it can be done with a little bit of labor. I feel with us eating 85% organic, high quality supplements, and doing regular cleanses (clay baths, etc.), we do have the upper hand here so a little HFCS here and there is not a burden on Charlie’s body. But if I was first starting out my journey for a natural solution, absolutely NO HFCS! You can do mild moderation of HFCS once the brain and body chemistry is back in harmony. Just keep in mind, HFCS is very additive.

Enthusiastically yours,

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