The autism-mercury connection?
Almost half of tested samples of High Fructose Corn Syrup contain mercury, according to two recent U.S. studies done by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. High Fructose Corn Syrup can be found in everything from English Muffins to Yogurt. In the past 25 years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the use of HFCS in our food; in fact a 4,000 percent per capita increase of HFCS production since 1973. It now accounts for 40 % of all added sweeteners used in the American diet. Chances are very good that you and/or your children ate something containing HFCS today.
The past 25 years have also seen an explosion in autism rates in the U.S. Autism is a complex developmental disorder diagnosed in 1 out of every 150 American children. Ten years ago that statistic was 1 out of every 500. While no one knows what causes autism, there is considerable research showing that elevated rates of mercury and other environmental toxins may play a significant role in the surge of autistic American children. While we may not be able to make a definitive statement about causation in the average child, there certainly seems to be a connection between immuno-deficient children developing autism when exposed to increased levels of environmental toxins.
What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?
Cane Sugar is made from pure sucrose — another name for common white sugar. Sucrose is made of glucose and fructose — which are just names of specific types of Carbohydrates — attached to each other by a very weak bond. When we digest something made of white sugar, it breaks down in our body quite easily (since it is only attached by a weak bond) and it becomes a molecule of fructose and a molecule of glucose. High Fructose Corn Syrup, by contrast, is made by using 3 different enzymes (2 of which are genetically modified to make them more stable) to process corn starch into glucose, then processing that glucose into a high concentration of fructose. Although the end result is very similar to white sugar, it is much more complicated to make, and needs to be produced in chemical processing plants.
Put simply, HFCS is a type of corn syrup (a process beginning with a few kernels of corn and ending, after many chemical reactions and molecular changes, in a thick, sweet, goopy substance) which is usually 55 % fructose and 45 % glucose. It is “high” fructose only in relation to other corn syrups, not other sugars. It is very similar to regular white sugar which is 50 % fructose and 50 % glucose. In 1977, a series of “sugar taxes” were passed which made white sugar slightly more expensive for commercial use. HFCS provided companies with a cheaper alternative since it is made from corn, a highly subsidized American grown product.
One of the factors that makes HFCS unnatural is that caustic soda (also known as lye) is used to separate the corn starch from the corn kernel for its production. For years, caustic soda has been processed in chlorine industrial plants, where it becomes contaminated with mercury. There is no such thing as a safe level of ingested mercury…especially in young, developing brains. When we consume HFCS, we are also consuming the mercury and other toxic by-products.
Earlier this year, two studies tested products containing HFCS to determine which ones contained mercury. The following is a list of the products which were shown to have the highest levels of mercury contamination:
Coca Cola; Quaker Oatmeal; Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce; Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup; Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars; Smucker’s Jelly; Hunt’s Ketchup; Yoplait Yogurt; Minute Maid Berry Punch; Yoo-Hoo; Nesquick Chocolate Milk; Dr. Pepper, and A & W Root Beer.
The response from food regulatory agencies has been that some types of commonly eaten fish have higher levels of mercury than several of these products — and the reality is that it’s probably all about how much of these products you are consuming. In my opinion, if you have small children or you are pregnant, you may want to consider removing all products containing HFCS from your diet. If your children suffer from weak immune systems this becomes even more critical. Thanks to the lack of proper monitoring by our food regulatory agencies, being a parent just got a whole lot tougher.
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Yes, I have been carefully avoiding high frustose corn syrup for maybe 15 years, courtesy of Gary Null