Health + Infertility: Part Five: Fructose Corn Syrup

If you have been following this blog for a while now, you know I am a health nut (and workout addict, but that is never posted about). I know ‘healthy’ is a very relative term, but to me it means avoiding anything processed, only eating what is natural and fresh, and avoiding chemicals or anything that causes harm to our bodies.

I have made four posts about how chemicals affect our health and specifically infertility:

Part One: BPA
Part Two: Triclosan
Part Three: Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Part Four: Fragrance

Today, I want to share about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), which I realize is not a chemical, but is still detrimental to our health. HFCS is a sweetener used in processed foods. It is made from a complex process that turns glucose from corn syrups into fructose. The processed fructose can only be broken down by your liver and causes cellular inflammation and damage to the body. HFCS is known to cause obesity, insulin resistance, and mineral deficiency, and lots of other health problems.

Anytime you see HFCS on a label, the label is screaming that the food is made up of poor quality ingredients. If HFCS is in a food, it guarantees the food is also full of other artificial ingredients that have no nutritional value to your body. Manufactures love HFCS because it is less expensive than all other sweeteners.

The short way to summarize HFCS is to stay away.

So what does this have to do with infertility? When a person eats HFCS it spikes their blood sugar which increases the insulin in the body. When HFCS is digested the sugar effects how the brain and hormones function. Anything that alters how your hormones respond, alters your fertility too. Studies have also shown an alteration of sperm due to poor diet and HFCS. Because most of the time, like mentioned earlier, it is not just HFCS that is the problem, it’s other artificial ingredients too. All these ingredients negatively impact your hormones.

Is your health and future important to you? Start eating healthy now. Not only will it increase your fertility, but what you eat will also impact your baby while you are pregnant, and your health later on. Take your diet seriously. And, whatever you do avoid HFCS!