AMERICANS ARE FAT! And while it appears that each week there are new diets and new fingers eager to point blame towards restaurants, food products or the Internet, it’s important for us to remember that nutrition is a relatively new science. New research developments change the conventional wisdom, and can force the food industry to adjust their processing techniques or ingredients.

The truth is that there are certain ingredients that are being used in our everyday foods that may well be culpable in the “fat war.”

One such ingredient that appears to be adding more inches to our waistline than is necessary is high fructose corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is processed from hydrolysed corn starch (so it’s not completely natural) and contains a high level of fructose (which is naturally occurring in fruits and honey) and a simple sugar carbohydrate, just like sucrose. It is about 75 percent sweeter than sucrose, less expensive than sugar, and mixes well in many foods. Food manufacturers (especially soda manufacturers) began using HFCS widely in the early 1970s to save money, and it was thought of as a revolutionary advance in food science because of its stability and usefulness in a variety of foods.

While many reports show that Americans consumption of white refined sugar has dropped over the past 20 years, it is mostly a result of the switch by food companies to HFCS, which according to USDA figures shows an increased consumption by 250 percent over the last 15 years. Estimates are that we consume about nine percent of our daily calories in the form of fructose.....