High Fructose Corn Syrup is Not the Devil
Our ObesityMyths and MercuryFacts websites are dedicated to debunking common misinformation about how some foods affect Americans’ health. But despite the media’s penchant for pouncing on every new food-scare study, flavor-of-the-month fear mongering doesn’t have much to offer consumers who are just trying to get healthier. Activists don’t like to admit it but a calorie is a calorie, and -- as we’re making clear this week -- sugar is sugar.
It’s become fashionable in recent years for food activists (and some marketers) to blame high fructose corn syrup for our collective love-handles. But all natural sweeteners (including cane sugar, beet sugar, corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and others) are made up of two basic sugar molecules called glucose and fructose. Each of those sugars contains the same number of calories as all other carbohydrates: just four per gram. So a gram of fructose in table sugar is no more fattening than a gram of fructose in honey, or a gram of fructose derived from corn.
Basic science truth hasn’t stopped celebrities like Jenny McCarthy from calling high fructose corn syrup “the devil,” and it hasn’t stopped a few lawmakers from trying to ban the sweetener. But only the most skilled logical acrobats can deny the evidence as it piles up. There’s no link between high fructose corn syrup and obesity, for instance, as a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition confirmed.
Taking another tactic, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) is scaring consumers with wild claims about traces of mercury in high fructose corn syrup. IATP published a junk-science study that claimed they found mercury in 17 out of 55 common grocery items containing the sweetener. But they neglected to test for mercury in food products that didn’t contain it, meaning there’s no way to tell whether the mercury came from a source other than corn. (Not only that, but the mercury traces were measured in parts per trillion – not exactly cause for concern.)
Consumers need to be aware of the truth lurking behind the latest ingredient hysteria. Our latest offerings will point you in the right direction.
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How much money is the Corn Refiners Association paying "Consumer Freedom" to shill for them regarding High Fructose Corn Syrup?
HFCS, crystalline fructose, & criminally labeled - FDA unapproved toxic 'agave' (illegally affirmed false in labeling & non GRAS by FDA & really chemically refined hydrolyzed high fructose inulin syryp) are highly chemically refined forms of a man-made monosaccharide called 'fructose', of the same molecular weight as the fruit sugar occuring monosaccharide 'levulose', but NOT metabolized at all the same in the human body.
PROOF: Levulose or other naturally occuring, mono, di, or olgio saccharides, in fruit, convert to blood glucose for energy in the KREBS CYCLE. Refined chemical fructose (not natural, nor existing in this isomeration of polarity in nature) is not recognized by the human body, & automatically converted to blood triglycerides (leading to cardio vascular disease) as well as stored as adipose tissue (body fat).
But let's say that's not good enough for you. Well then why are more and more life and health insurers literally giving premium discounts to individuals not consuming HFCS, just like non drinker, non smoker & good driver discounts.
Argumentation by PR & spin entities like the one writing this opinion article are the equivalent of BIG TOBACCO denying, deflecting, & lying, for 45+ years, that their was no connection whatsoever between their products & disease.
In point of fact, this opinon pr spin piece reads as though it is written be a Tobacco Lobby Propagandist.
Read Greg Critser's 'FAT LAND: HOW AMERICA BECAME THE FATTEST NATION ON EARTH'
Watch at www.youtube.com food critic Mark Bittman's lecture: 'WHAT'S WRONG WITH WHAT WE EAT?'
OK, to recap, consume ONE soda, or other HFCS sweetened food, say a candy bar, (not an abundance) sweetened with HFCS, and your blood triglycerides with be up over 300% of normal. This does not occur with other forms of sweeteners (cane sugar, fruit juice, honey, maple syrup, etc.).
Americans consumed no HFCS, or other refined forms of fructose in 1970. It did not exist.
Today, 2009, some almost 40 years later, the average America is consuming approximately 98 pounds per year of refined man-made fructose (these are the hard numbers from the Corn Refiner's Production Numbers In Bushels Processed & Coversion Factors To Industrial Sales Per Year In Rail Tankers Sold).
Coincidentally, the obesity rates in America went from 12% of the population being MEDICALLY diagnosed obese, or morbidly obese, in 1970, to 34.86% now being medically diagnosed 'MORBIDLY OBESE', & 33.27% being MEDICALLY DIAGNOSED 'OBESE'.
The rates of insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, type 1 & 2 diabetes, cardio vascular disease, nutrient deplete trigger forms of cancer , all correspond with the Tsunami of HFCS used in the food/beverage chain.
Of an average 68,000 items sold in a mainstream supermarket in America today, 43,000 contain HFCS.
Other books of empirical data, for your consideration, of the proven health harms of refined fructose and HFCS are: SUGAR SHOCKED by Connie Bennett & Dr. Frank Sinatra, MD, & SWEET DECEPTION by Drs. Joseph Mercola & Kendra Pearsall, MD's.
The average America consumed less than 1,500 calories per day in 1965, & ate from 4 basic food groups, & we as a country were not OBESE. Why? Because there were real nutrients in our food, & we were satiated (satisfied - full), & did not over graze or consume.
Today, the average America consumes over 3,200 calories per day, & is not satisfied because there are 75% LESS nutrients in our highly process, refined, chemically maipulated, pasteurized, homogenized, chemically preserveted, colored, & artifically high sweetened food chain.
We are over fed & under nourished in America.
And this processed & sweeter western diet is now doing the same to Europe, Asia, Australia, where HFCS is even more deceptively labeled as 'glucose' or 'iso glucose'.
After air, water, & salt, the next most frequently used raw material (bulker/filler) in the America food & beverage chain is HFCS, because of it's low cost, & it puts higher profit margins into the pockets of manufacturers using it.
America has become slowly poisioned on HFCS laden food & beverages. Follow The Money.
THE SOLUTION offered by K Street Lobbyists for industries controlling the USDA and FDA? DRUGS, lots of them, and also more transfer of income/revenue, into the pockets of these DEATH MERCHANTS.
Read THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DRUG COMPANIES by Dr. Marcia Angell, MD, former editor and chief of The New England Journal Of Medicine for 21 years.
KING CORN, the name of a documentary out on DVD (also at www.youtube.com ) exposes all these FACTS.
REFINED CORN IS TO NUTRITION OR FOOD, WHAT PORN IS TO FINE ART.
hfcs will wreck your health . It has wrecked mine.
ADM, Cargill, Staley Manufacturing Co. and CPC International are THE DEVILS that want HFCS to be in everything.
As pointed out above, HFCS is metabolized differently than sucrose and other natural sugars.
The OP ought to read up on the complicated process needed to create this corn product.
Corn Refiners use politicians to keep sugar prices artificially high to make their artificial product more affordable. Te same Corn Refiners have wasted valuable time pushing Corn Ethanol as a solution to our dependency on petroleum.
Just about the most inefficient way of extracting fuel from plant matter, but highly profitable to large corporations that already have huge corn refining operations in place.
But I digress.
Even the very slow FDA ruled last month that HFCS cannot be called "natural" because of the way it is made.
ADM is the Devil. Cargill is the Devil.
These pro-HFCS campaigns are missing the point entirely. It's not that I, or anyone else I know, believes HFCS is any different from any other form of sugar. The point, and the problem I have with it, is that it's very nearly impossible to buy good, wholesome foods like bread, applesauce, fruit snacks and juices, granolas, etc, that do not contain HFCS. It's not that I want to be able to buy HFCS-free applesauce because I think HFCS is "the devil", it's just that I don't think applesauce (or sliced bread or fruit juice) needs added sugar.
Arguing that "there's no link between HFCS and obesity " is like saying "there's no link between Doritos and obesity". Either one is fine in moderation, and, sure, you probably can't point to Doritos as a specific underlying cause to the obesity problem, but there's no massive government-subsidized effort to add Doritos to even our most innocuous and ostensibly wholesome foods. HFCS is no different than any other sweetener, which is exactly why I would have the same problem with government subsidy of, say, beet sugar production which resulted in financial incentives for farmers to grow sugar-beets and for food manufacturers to include beet sugar in every prepackaged food whether it needs it or not.
Of course HFCS isn't "the devil", but when eating a moderately-healthy diet means a routine 20-30 calories more per food per serving over the same breads, fruit products, etc without added HFCS then I have every reason to avoid purchasing products that contain HFCS.
I'm not making purchasing choices between applesauce with HFCS and applesauce with honey or cane sugar, I'm making purchasing choices between 90cal/serving applesauce made of apples and cinnamon and 120cal/serving, cloyingly sweet applesauce made of apples, HFCS, and cinnamon. Or buying a loaf of sliced bread that's 100cal/slice vs 120cal/slice for bread with added HFCS. Bread does not need a teaspoon or more sweetener per slice. I have had friends from Europe visit and mention how surprised they were to find that sandwich bread is sweet here in the US.
It's sad that we're reaching a point where we have to go out of our way to consciously purchase foods like wholegrain bread and fruit products with no added sweeteners.
A review article on the potential role of fructose in metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes is at:
http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/96
Fructose is NOT just another carbohydrate.
The JOCN (JOKe?) report cited was nothing more than a web search by what is most likely a front group possibly funded by someone with an agenda.
The direct links only have quotations instead of the actual article.
Give us several peer-reviewed studies from well known and respected medical authorities before falling for this.
HFCS may come from a natural source but requires a chemical process to make.
Billard balls are made from a plastic made from wood but we would not call them natural.
As an aside, I'd like to point out that the motives, goals, and tactics of the Center for Consumer Freedom are rather well established:
http://www.consumerdeception.com /
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivistCash
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
The name of the group alone is specifically intended to mislead, mis-frame, and mis-educate. It requires considerable gullibility to consider any statement of such an organization authoritative in any sense.
The argument against hig-fructose curn syrup goes like this:
Fructose is not like other carbohydrates. Uniquely, it induces elevation of uric acid levels.
In turn, uric acid at high levels is a conditional pro-oxidant. This has been related to the causation of metabolic syndrome (type-2 diabetes, hypertension, etc. )
High fructose corn syrup is to the packaged/processed food industry what nicotine is to the cigarette industry.
It's not that HFCS is "the devil" (Jenny McCarthy, for supposedly being gifted, is an idiot), it's that it's METABOLIZED differently than sucrose. It delivers a quadruple whammy:
1. It's far sweeter than sucrose or the other natural sugars;
2. It's more calorie-dense, in spite of what is claimed above;
3. It BYPASSES the digestive system's normal satiation response (you could eat a pound of it and not feel full); and last but not least...
4. In the human body it is metabolized into an intermediate compound WHICH IS TOXIC and much be further defused by the kidneys; if too much of it is consumed at once, as is certain to happen with so many current processed foods, it will overwhelm the kidneys and over time will CAUSE KIDNEY DAMAGE.
Think about those latter two items, as you drop that so-called "fruit juice" drink in your kid's lunch box: not only will he be inclined to keep drinking the junk because he'll never feel full, the more he drinks the more likely that kidney damage is to occur.