HFCS & Mercury
Researchers in the US found that much of the high fructose corn syrup that is increasingly replacing sugar in processed foods is tainted with mercury, a metal that is toxic to humans. They also tested many branded food products and found they too contained mercury.
Oh, it's just a little mercury. Here is what it says on ASTDR, our government agency that lists Mercury as the third most hazardous toxic metal on the planet, right behind arsenic and lead.
Repeated or continuous exposure to elemental mercury can result in accumulation of mercury in the body and permanent damage to the nervous system and kidneys. (Would eating food tainted with mercury be classified as chronic exposure? You bet your sweet HFCS) Classic symptoms of poisoning include neuropsychiatric effects, renal impairment, and oropharyngeal inflammation. The neuropsychiatric effects include tremor, anxiety, emotional lability, forgetfulness, insomnia, anorexia, erethism (abnormal irritation, sensitivity, or excitement), fatigue, and cognitive and motor dysfunction.
The findings come from two studies, one of which is published in The Journal Environmental Health and the other is by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). Use of HFCS as a sweetener instead of sugar has risen sharply in recent decades, and now is commonly used to sweeten breads, cereals, breakfast bars, beverages, luncheon meats, yogurts, soups, and condiments. According to IATP estimates, the average American probably eats about 12 teaspoons of HFCS a day, with teenagers and consumers on the higher end of the spectrum perhaps eating 80 per cent higher than this.
Did you know that Quaker Oatmeal has the most mercury of all the foods tested! And we feed this to our children.
In the first Environmental Health study, researchers, led by Renee Dufault, who was working at the FDA at the time, found mercury in nearly 50 per cent (9 out of 20) of samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) they tested in 2005.
They concluded that the food industry, which is a large user of the sweetener, was mostly ignorant of the possibility that ingredients like HFCS could be tainted with mercury. According to an IATP press release, although the FDA had "evidence that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury four years ago", the federal agency "did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing".
In the first Environmental Health study, researchers, led by Renee Dufault, who was working at the FDA at the time, found mercury in nearly 50 per cent (9 out of 20) of samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) they tested in 2005.
They concluded that the food industry, which is a large user of the sweetener, was mostly ignorant of the possibility that ingredients like HFCS could be tainted with mercury. According to an IATP press release, although the FDA had "evidence that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury four years ago", the federal agency "did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing".
Don't eat HFCS, have I said that before!
In the second, IATP study, researchers sent 55 popular branded foods and drinks where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient to a commercial laboratory for testing; they found that nearly one third of them contained trace amounts of mercury. The brands included those made by Quaker, Hershey's, Kraft and Smucker's, big names in the US. The mercury was most prevalent in dairy products containing HFCS, followed by dressings and condiments that contained the sweetener.
How does the mercury get into the corn syrup?
For decades, HFCS has been made using mercury-grade caustic soda produced in so-called "chlor-alkali" or industrial chlorine plants that use mercury cells. The caustic soda, which can thus contain traces of mercury, is used to separate the corn starch (that goes to make the syrup) from the kernel. The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury. The IATP said there are still four of the older chlor-alkali plants that use mercury cells in the US. In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama brought in legislation to make these plants phase out mercury cell technology by 2012.
Wow, one more reason to check the labels to see what the heck we are eating. Stay with me here, I have so much more coming on HFCS.
God Bless You!
Dr. Mac
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