![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blueheronhealthnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/diabetes_HFCS-300x180.jpg\" "\\"diabetes_HFCS\\"")
A study out of Oxford University casts an unfavorable light on a common sweetener used in processed food. More troubling, though, is how hard it is to avoid the additive in the first place.<\/p>\nA study out of Oxford University casts an unfavorable light on a common sweetener used in processed food. More troubling, though, is how hard it is to avoid the additive in the first place.<\/p>\n
In countries where there is a high consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS for short), rates of type 2 diabetes are as much as 20 percent higher than countries that consume little to none.<\/p>\n
The sweetener is used more widely than cane sugar because of its food-moistening benefits and the fact that it\u2019s cheaper than cane.<\/p>\n
The US was found to consume the most HFCS out of the 42 countries studied, with an estimated average of over 55 pounds of it consumed per person every year.<\/p>\n
The US\u2019s neighbors, Canada and Mexico, also ranked near the top of the list for high consumption of HFCS, followed by Argentina, Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n
The study noted that in terms of causative elements for type 2 diabetes, the kind of sugar doesn\u2019t matter, and countries that consume high amounts of total sugar, like the UK with more than 80 pounds per person in a year also see higher rates of the disease.<\/p>\n