Posted on 10/17/2012 8:09:45 PM PDT by djf
A new study released this past week has once again linked the consumption of processed foods to health complications, giving food safety advocates even more cause for concern. The April 10th publication of the Clinical Epigenetics Journal reported a link between high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and autism in the United States. According to the study, the rise in autism rates "is not related to mercury exposure from fish, coal-fired power plants, thimerosal, or dental amalgam but instead to the consumption of HFCS.”
The study, led by former FDA toxicologist and whistleblower Renee Dufault, found that a deficiency of zinc, triggered by the consumption of HFCS and other processed foods, interferes with the body’s ability to eliminate toxins such as mercury and pesticides.
High fructose corn syrup has long been suspected of having an adverse impact on health and has been purportedly linked to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and liver disease. The fructose-laden ingredient has even been reported to facilitate the growth of cancer cells.
Dufault made news in 2009 with another study (which was referenced in these new findings), also linking high fructose corn syrup to mercury. Many HFCS proponents and some in the autism community will immediately (and predictively) discount these new findings, but regardless, they still warrant further research.
With autism rates now at a mind-blowing 1 in 88, there are many who are desperately looking for a definitive cause and a silver bullet theory. Whether or not there is something to these new findings remains to be seen, but we must not give up on our quest for the truth.
Oh, boy. This ranks right up there with the Wakefield “study”. Pure junk science. I wonder how it got past the reviewers.
HFCS is just sugar. Table sugar is 50% each, glucose and fructose. Other commonly found sugars have varying amounts of glucose and fructose. HFCS is 40% or more fructose, the rest is glucose. The irony is that many people who have swallowed, hook line and sinker, the hype about the horrors of HFCS probably buy agave syrup as a “natural alternative” to sugar... agave syrup, which is almost all fructose.
I realize people want to blame something for autism. We don’t know what causes it yet, but it has all the characteristics of a genetic disorder.
“The vaccine study and the doctor who did it that caused that furor were proven to be frauds.”
I read about that, but just because a study is discredited does not disprove the connection. Many parents of autistic children have said that their child’s behavior changed soon after, or even the very week, of receiving a vaccine. The claims have been denied by those in power and by the pharmaceutical industry, the people who have the most to lose if the connection were proven.
More studies should be done — unbiased ones. But who would do them? Everyone has a stake in the outcome.
These are the same sh*t for brains researchers that keep changing their story on coffee: “Coffee causes hypertension and heart disease...” “No wait, now we've determined that coffee isn't as bad as we once thought and may even help to prevent dementia."
They can stick these studies up their butts.
“Fructose increases the rate of iron absorption through the gut. Increased iron in brain reduces insulin sensitivity and reduces the rate of amino acid absorption into the brain neurons. Vertebrate neonates need to absorb sufficient glutamate into neurons to initiate the excitotoxin apoptosis in excess brain cells. Autism kids have 67% more brain cells than normal adults. The excess brain cells create the “white noise” that interferes with the kids ability to function.”
What does this have to do with a zinc deficiency?
High fructose corn syrup from GM corn, or non-GM corn?
Is there BT toxin or a metabolite/breakdown product in the new and improved syrup?
Here are some other exhibits:
A) elemental mercury is not a health threat. http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2009/01/latest-scare-du-jour-mercury-in-hfcs.html
B) The woman in question is not a scientist and the initial research she claimed to do was flawed and misleading.
C) Forget the mercury. Do you think that autistic behavior is encouraged or discouraged by consuming sugar?
Someone has to be at the bottom of the bell curve. That’s always been the case.
“It’s even in fish. Maybe canned tuna causes autism?”
Oh, thank you! I just finished off a delicious tuna and sandwich-spread sandwich followed by tuna on crackers. I was just enjoying some hot cocoa and decided to check in on FR and saw this thread.
I would say more but for some reason my attention is wandering...
“I realize people want to blame something for autism. We don’t know what causes it yet, but it has all the characteristics of a genetic disorder.”
This is interesting
http://news.yahoo.com/australian-scientists-develops-genetic-test-predict-autism-084625097.html
“The test correctly predicted autism with more than 70 percent accuracy in people of central European descent, with study into other ethnic groups continuing.”
The primary location for zinc absorption is the small bowel. Zinc absorption is known to be affected by dietary factors. A deficiency of zinc plays havoc in the body's ability to process other minerals. The chain makes sense. If HFCS hinders zinc absorption, a lot of things could be affected including DNA synthesis, neural function in specific regions of the brain (speech and taste), and a whole host of other issues. The buildup of the unprocessed minerals (mercury et al) could be directly related to zinc levels. Interesting............
Another social pattern that affects zinc absorption - human milk increases absorption. What correlation could be drawn between the shrinking number of nursing mothers and the rise in autism? Could be interesting.
I know a family to which that happened. Their daughter is severely autistic, but she had been normal for almost two years or so. But now the only thing that child will willingly eat is soda pop and hot dogs. And that's what they give her because otherwise she shrieks like a banshee. Still in a diaper at age 10.
Many years ago a study at the University of Florida found that autisitc children had an elevated amount of milk protein in their blood.
“You, and most others here, lack critical thinking skills and are being led around by the nose.”
Many Freepers are quite intelligent, and many are wise.
Well, the original study was published in the Clinical Epigenetics Journal.
Epigenetics is kinda sorta a little bit like our regular understanding of genetics.
But epigenetics has to do not so much with what genes you may or may not have, but which of those genes are or are not turned on.
And the turning on/turning off of the genes is highly affected by environmental factors.
High-fructose corn syrup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—also called glucose-fructose syrup[1][2] in the UK, glucose/fructose[3] in Canada, Glucose-Fructose syrup[4] in the EU and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries—comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, consumer foods and products typically use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It has become very common in processed foods and beverages in the U.S., including breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups, and condiments.[5]
According to the USDA, HFCS consists of 24% water, and the rest sugars. The most widely used varieties of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 42% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in beverages, processed foods, cereals and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 53% glucose.[6][7] HFCS-90, approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose, is used in small quantities for specialty applications, but primarily is used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55.[8]
In the U.S., HFCS is among the sweeteners that have primarily replaced sucrose (table sugar) in the food industry. Factors for this include governmental production quotas of domestic sugar, subsidies of U.S. corn, and an import tariff on foreign sugar; all of which combine to raise the price of sucrose to levels above those of the rest of the world, making HFCS cheaper for many sweetener applications. Critics of the extensive use of HFCS in food sweetening argue that the highly processed substance is more harmful to humans than regular sugar, contributing to weight gain by affecting normal appetite functions,[9] and that in some foods HFCS may be a source of mercury,[10][11][12][13] a known neurotoxin. The Corn Refiners Association disputes these claims and maintains that HFCS is comparable to table sugar.[14] Studies by the American Medical Association suggest “it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose”, but welcome further independent research on the subject.[15] Further reviews in the clinical literature have disputed the links between HFCS and obesity,[16] type 2 diabetes,[17] and metabolic syndrome,[16] and concluded that HFCS is no different from any other sugar in relationship to these diseases. HFCS has been classified generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 1976.[18] Yet further study showed that with dietary zinc (Zn) loss and copper (Cu) gain from the consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), metabolic processes required to eliminate heavy metals are impaired in children with autism.[19] ...”
(snip)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
“Amish have an autism rate of 1 per 15,000. Everyone on average is 1 per 150.”
I had not heard that... interesting.
“And the turning on/turning off of the genes is highly affected by environmental factors.”
Such as mercury, zinc or hfcs or something else.
For all we know, it could even be the result of kids watching Big Bird and other TV shows for hours instead of playing with toys or their friends. But that is for another thread...
Is there any simple procedure to make table sugar crystals from HFCS? I would presume if they were both comprised of glucose and fructose molecules in solution, and more importantly, if both behaved similarly, then HFCS in solution should be as easy to convert to sucrose crystals as table sugar in solution is.
Multiple studies have shown that autism rates among the Amish are the same as the general population.
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