If you check the labels on your favorite jarred marinara sauce, low-calorie salad dressing, or loaf of bread, you may be surprised to find that they contain added simple sugars — one of the most popular forms of which is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sweetener used in many processed foods.
Over the past four decades, sugar has steadily crept into American diets — a trend that can be largely attributed to the food industry’s embrace of HFCS, used to enhance the flavor of all types of products, not just sweets. And whereas dietary fat was once seen as the main public health enemy, in recent years, researchers are finding that the added sugars in our diet, mainly in the form of fructose, are contributing to high levels of obesity, diabetes, and liver disease.
