"We city folk can pretend that we prefer the rotgut from Starcorps with skim milk and Splenda, but who are we kidding? Maxwell House with French vanilla corn syrup cannot be beat."

That’s how Tina Fey, in her book "Bossypants," summed up America's self-destructive love affair with added fructose, especially high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

The most recent stats show that the average American consumed just over 22 pounds of HFCS in 2018, and that was in addition to more than 40 pounds of refined cane and beet sugars.

The obesity-promoting, diabetes-encouraging, liver-damaging properties of this sweetener — which shows up in sodas and teas, packaged baked goods, and even yogurt, applesauce, and ketchup — have long been known.

But now researchers have published a breakthrough study in the journal Nature Communications showing that fructose also damages your immune system.

It seems that eating a steady diet of added fructose and HFCS reprograms part of your metabolism, causing your immune system's cells to produce chronic inflammation throughout your body. And that falsely evoked immune response damages your internal organs.

Avoiding added fructose (the fructose in fresh fruit is no worry) is easy if you ditch packaged baked goods, many salad dressings, sweetened yogurts, frozen pizzas and dinners, many condiments (read the labels), and sweetened sodas, teas, and energy and sports drinks.

The rewards are more energy, smoother skin, a better sex life, less risk of chronic disease, and a longer life span.