Customer Reviews

High Fructose Corn Poison

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The author frames the issues around the use of "High Fructose Corn Poison" in ways that are hard to argue with. For instance, calling HFCS food is a stretch of the imagination. The process of making HFCs could be compared to extracting paraffin from crude oil. Yes, the chemical processes are very different, but you take one substance, and you completely alter it to be able to use it in food as an additive. Paraffin, a very refined version of crude oil, can be added to chocolate to stabilize it for better storage and heat resistance. It is also used on fruits to give them a shiny appearance. When you eat paraffin in this manner, are you eating food? NO!, but it can be used as a food additive, just like HFCS.

HFCS starts as corn, which is milled to produce corn starch, then the enzyme "alpha-amylase" (derived from barley or chemically produced) is added to covert the starches to shorter sugar chains. Sounds good so far, but now we go off the beaten path. Those sugar chains are broken down again using a derivative of fungus to make even smaller glucose and fructose chains. Next, Xylose isomerase is added and the fructose content is raised to about 42%. This 42-43% fructose glucose mixture is then subjected to a liquid chromatography step, where the fructose is enriched to about 90%. The 90% fructose is then back-blended with 42% fructose to achieve a 55% fructose final product. Most manufacturers use carbon absorption for impurity removal. Numerous filtration, ion-exchange and evaporation steps are also part of the overall process. Just like Mom used to make it, right?

Calling HFCS "food" after that amount of processing is a stretch at best. However, unlike paraffin which can mostly pass inertly through the body, HFCS breaks down in the body in unexpected ways. The main concerns are it's direct links to obesity and to the liver problems it causes.

Advocates of HFCS say it is similar or the same as sugar, but the levels of fructose (55-90% fructose) in HFCS do not exist anywhere in nature, therefore there are no natural processes in your body to break it down in safe and healthy ways. Even companies that advocate the use of HFCS state that they should be used in moderation. That is becoming increasingly difficult when most foods that used to contain cane or beet sugar are now laden with HFCS. The author again is one of the few voices pointing out these concerns and trying to raise the awareness of this problem.

I agree with the authors advice, read labels and avoid at all costs foods that contain "High Fructose Corn Poison", your body will thank you later.

This book is little more than vituperative ramblings against the food industry in general.

There is no science presented in this book. Just rambles and admittedly "made-up terminology." I'm less-than-inclined to forgive the several typographical errors littered throughout it, either.

While I agree that HFCS is bad, and fructose specifically is turning out to be a chronic toxin, this book does not address any of the science behind it and is simply a rant against the food industry. Pure and simple. Methinks this guy has no clue what he's talking about. At all.

Also, don't be fooled by the page count of 60 pages. Each page has about a 2-inch margin on all sides and several of the pages at the end are blank. Honestly, this could have probably all been compressed down to about a 30-page pamphlet.

This is seriously one of the few books I've considered throwing in the trash.

Anyone interested in the health effects of fructose would be better served by purchasing an actual scientist's book: The Sugar Fix, by Richard Johnson. Then watch Robert Lustig's YouTube video "Sugar: The Bitter Truth."

Don't waste your money on this garbage. After hearing from REAL scientists, you'll want to shred this book. I certainly do.