The Corn Refiners Association is sick and tired of people expressing uncertainty about the dubious heath benefits of high fructose corn syrup, so they’re running some commercials featuring aggressively annoying people getting schooled on the “facts” about our most omnipresent sweetener. All we managed to glean from the commercials is that not consuming high fructose corn syrup makes you rude. In the first one, one mom walks up to another (who is pouring some sort of pink liquid from a jug) and says, “Wow, you don’t care what the kids eat, huh?” What a jerk.
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My husband and I saw those ads over the weekend on TLC and were laughing hysterically.
@chiieddy: I thought I might actually die laughing.
1) What are the proven harms in eating it?
2) They don’t say it is rude for saying anything. It seems they are asserting that claiming it’s harmful without any support is stupid. That is stupid.
I don’t eat the shit because I think the US government props up huge corporations with subsidies for the poison. Then they stick it in everything, including my fucking bread.
@SuffolkHouse: 1) It isn’t treated by the body the same as real sugar, for one thing. It turns into fat more readily than other sweetners because it is absorbed much faster, a rate at which your body doesn’t have the opportunity to burn it fast enough. This can lead to problems with the liver and insulin resistance, which can then lead to diabetes.
As opposed to real sugar, it also contains lots of extra stuff from the process used to create and extract it from corn.
I’m fairly certain that most of the really harmful effects of HFCS come from the form most commonly used in sodas, though I’m sure the type found in almost every other food stuff isn’t much better.
I saw one of these commercials the other day, and I was just like WHAT?
“… what, that it’s made from corn???!!”
Rude AND ignorant. Come on, pick me, I know the answer! Advertising…making people believe anything big corporations want. Hope my parents see it so next time I make a decision not to eat something with high fructose corn syrup they try that line on me. I sure wouldn’t say, “uhhh…ummm…that….”
Awesome. Just avoiding being a green counter-culturist hipster is enough for me; actually giving us some facts is a bonus.
Well at least its “fine in moderation”… you know like alcohol, and fish high in mercury.
@gregcuc: You forgot that its “all natural” like pot, lead, and poison ivy.
They come across like the public information films in the Simpsons. I half expected Troy Maclure to pop in:
“Hi, I’m Troy Maclure and you may know me from such films as “what could possibly be wrong with highly processed and refined artificial sweeteners” and “Tobacco, it’s a natural leaf”.”
@sir_eccles: Well said, if I could I would moderate +1.
I saw these over the weekend and my first thought was “wow, it really must be that bad if they’re doing the anti-information campaign”. In a way it assures me how bad the stuff must be.
@sir_eccles: +2 intarwebs
@sir_eccles: Actually, IIRC, they did have a sugar reference. Homer was warming up to Flanders, and they were having a picnic. Maude didn’t want the kids to have sugar and Marge says something like, “Why would the sugar council tell me something wrong?”.
When we first saw this my wife and I were asking what the heck that was all about and laughing hysterically. We had the same thought as sir_eccles.
Just read a good article on this. Basically HFCS doesn’t trigger insulin and leptin release because the enzyme is designed for glucose not fructose, so you don’t fee sated and therefore will eat more food while intaking the same amount of sugar calories because you haven’t triggered the cascade. [www.naturalnews.com]
Also, does the corn industry REALLY need to advertise, aren’t they making enough money already and having supply problems cause food prices to rise?@
I avoid it because it tastes gross. Real sugar for me, please.
@B: Second. Does any one else notice that products made with real sugar and even potato chips made with sun flower oil or whatever just taste better?
@ornj: I’m sure most everyone here will attest to that. I can definitely taste the difference, but it’s not enough that I actually care. I do hate the fact that it’s in everything us Americans consume. Like others said, why the f*ck does my bread need to have HFCS in it?!
@wiggatron: I wonder about that too. I’m assuming it’s there to react with the yeast.
@ornj:
Actually, the chips made with the Sunflower Oil have an odd taste of sunflower seeds, as opposed to a “potato-chippy” aftertaste.
everything in moderation…
From what I’ve read the biggest problem is that because HFCS is concentrated that people consume it in larger doses, leading to a stronger chance of (wilford brimley voice) type 2 ‘betus’.
@Chongo: I thought no one else cared how Wilford butchered that word, glad to have the company.
@Chongo: I believe that is it – fructose is a simple sugar so is broken down more “easily” and therefore affects the blood sugar levels. Sending those levels on a roller coaster can play havok with the body’s attempts to regulate it. (I am an engineer not a doctor. This is my understanding from undergrad biology and reading Atkins’ book.)
Too bad you can’t eat it in moderation because they pump it into everything.
So they say if I don’t want to eat the damn thing (which is hard, because it shows up in everything) I’m an idiot? Thanks HFCS!
If everyone in the US were to take these commercials to heart and truly consume HFCS in moderation, the corn refiners would be in huge trouble. Because it’s in freaking EVERYTHING.
Whole Foods makes non-diet soda that uses cane sugar instead of HFCS… it’s not bad, but it’s feel-your-teeth-rotting sweet, so you end up not wanting much.
@emis: That’s precisely the problem with HFCS. If something has too much sugar in it, your stomach rebels and you’re sated. Sugar intake is halted. Puppies rejoice.
Same thing with HFCS and you’re not sated, instead shuffling towards the grocery isle, groaning, “Moooore…”
@emis:
I was drinking the Whole Foods 365 Cola for a few months because they are relatively inexpensive for a cane sugar cola ($2.50 for a six pack). After trying a few other cane colas. I’ve switched over to Jones Cola for my HFCS fix. They are about the same price, if not a little cheaper at $4-5 for a 12 pack.
The 365 cola was just too sweet to tolerate drinking an entire can. It was much better over ice than from the can and had a good cola flavor. The Jones is not quite as good flavor wise, but more importantly has a less sweet taste.
After drinking real cane sodas, regular Coke tastes more like a chemical and not a soda. Mexican cokes are okay, but prohibitively expensive.
FYI- Jones with some good rum and a hint of lime makes a fantastic summer drink.
@emis: Jones Soda ftw!
It would have been awesome if that woman whacked the other one in the face with the jug.
…I think Hostess needs to start using this for Twinkies…
Guy: “Want a twinkie?”
Girl: “No way man, you know what they say about trans-fats”
Guy: “What?”
…and then just have the girl stand there with a dumb look on her face.
It could work for anything… cigarettes, salt, weed, cell phone radio emissions, cosmic rays…
We’re already “dumbing down” everything else on TV, this is just the next logical step.
@emis: When I saw this commercial for the first time, not knowing what it was, I swore he was going to say “You know, make you fat”, to which she was going to lay him out.
Am I the only one who noticed the “better than thou” woman in the first commercial is Buffy’s roommate in Season 4? Lol.
@DarlingMagpie: My hunter sense was tingling as well.
@DarlingMagpie: OH MY GOD! I scrolled past the video screencap thinking, “Holy Crap, that woman has crazy eyes…” Now I know why they were so familiar!
@DarlingMagpie: You are not, I noticed that too. She listened to Cher all the time, if I remember correctly. And turned out to be a demon, obvs.
Anyone else notice that the “in moderation” part in the first video is almost [i]sotto voce[/]?
And as others have said, try shopping the mainstream brands and consuming in moderation and you won’t be eating much.
In my experience the people who avoid HFCS also make a point to be as condescending as possible to people who don’t. I fully support these ads, not because I think HFCS is a great thing, but because people should mind their own damn business and let others consume whatever they want.
@Micromegas: I work in an environment where I’m in contact with hundreds of moms and kids, and I’ve never met one who is sanctimonious about HFCS.
Personally, I try my best to avoid it. When I was drinking soda (two cans per day) over a period of a year, I began to gain weight in areas of my body where I do not normally gain weight — in my upper body and my face. I’m small-boned and naturally thin, with a tendency to carry any excess weight in my hips and thighs, but on high doses of HFCS I looked puffy and bloated. After I cut that shit out, I lost 20 lbs in about 6 six weeks. Seven years later, I gain and lose the same 5-10 lbs, but I’ve never had the puffy-weight problem. Just my own experience, YMMV.
@Micromegas:
Yeah!
Hey, wait…do you work for Merck?
Our government has price controls on domestic sugar (to keep prices high) and places caps on imported sugar.
This forced food manufacturers to look for lower cost substitutes, which just happen to be grown right here in the USA.
[www.cato.org]
Because the body does not respond chemical to HFCS in the same was as sugar and related substances, there is increasing data to suggest that HFCS is a significant factor in the rise in obesity and diabetes rates in our country.
[www.wnbc.com]
If I want to get “facts” about the health issues of HFCS I’d trust an unbiased news source over a multi-million Web site and campaign created by HFCS manufacturers.
PEOPLE-
VERY FEW EDIBLE THINGS ARE BAD FOR YOU IF TAKEN WITH MODERATION.
The problem is most people don’t know what “Moderation” means.
I think this advertising will backfire, because it will get people to Google “High Fructose Corn Syrup” or just the letters “HFCS” since Google will do both the abbreviation and full word of it, and you see the top results of sites that talk about how bad it is/can be for you. Not enough people know what HFCS is, so this will get them to read it in greater detail.
The sponsored link is to the HFCS “Facts” site, but most don’t pay attention to that link and they will notice all these links below showing how bad it is/can be for you. Great work though “Corn refiners” on making people aware of the product and how it will start the downfall.
I’m a supertaster. I can taste the HFCS in some things, especially soda.
Solution? I don’t eat or drink anything with a clear “corny” taste. If I can’t taste it, I don’t worry about it.
I just avoid any food additive that is best expressed as an acronym, or that one cannot buy off the shelf at my grocery store.
We can buy sugar, honey, even little packets of NutraSweet or Aspartame. Not so with HFCS. That tells us something right there, yes?
HFCS is like BASF– we don’t make the foods you eat, we make them mysterious.
@savvy999:
wrong. you can buy HFCS. its called Karo Syrup. Its in the baking aisle.
[www.karosyrup.com]
@antijamsect:
Actually, you’re wrong. Karo is regular corn syrup, not the high fructose variety. There is a difference. HFCS has enzymes in it that convert some of the glucose in the corn syrup to fructose, thus making it HFCS.
@kidgenius, @savvy999: Actually Karo syrup can contain HFCS; I am sitting next to a bottle which does. From [karosyrup.com] itself: “Karo light corn syrup is a mixture of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup”, where Karo light (and not Karo lite) refers to the standard “clear” syrup as opposed to the dark version which attempts to imitate molasses as an ingredient.
I suspect they have removed HFCS recently from the ingredients due to the hype, but it at least used to be there and it might be useful to be more informed before you attempt to correct someone. Last week I was at a relative’s house who baked with Karo syrup, and sure enough HFCS was in the ingredients list on their bottle, too.
@antijamsect: Wrong. Karo is specifically only “Corn Syrup”, often with additives… not High-Fructose (meaning concentrated) Corn Syrup. Look at the Nutrition Facts for each Karo product here [www.karosyrup.com]
The difference is only a matter of concentration, the ratio of glucose to fructose, but still a difference. Karo = CS, not HFCS.
Ah, wiki to the rescue to explain the difference: [en.wikipedia.org]
“High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a variant in which other enzymes are used to convert some of the glucose into fructose. The resulting syrup is sweeter and more soluble.
Corn syrup is also available as a retail product. The most popular retail corn syrup product in the United States is Karo Syrup, a fructose/glucose syrup.[4]“
@gmoney: “The idea that it’s hard is silly. Now it’s hard if you demand a cookie or a soda.”
Or bread.
@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak:
really? Your town’s grocery stores have no deli sections?
Wow.
@gmoney: Oh, they have deli sections… but even that isn’t always a guarantee. If I go to Winco, then yeah, the bakery bread doesn’t have HFCS, but if I go to Albertson’s… guess what? Apparently, Albertson’s just bakes the bread on premises, the get the dough pre-made from an industrial supplier, and it has HFCS in it.
@savvy999: What are you talking about? I can buy a jar of Karo corn syrup in any grocery store in the country. Hell I have some sitting on the counter.
Moral of the story:
Everyone who doesn’t eat corn syrup is a racist.
[www.mayoclinic.com]
@cgi5877: Interesting, no proven harm.
@crabbyman6: wow great source, the author’s bio at the end “Helmut Beierbeck has a science background and a strong interest in all scientific aspects of health, nutrition, medicine, weight loss, or any other topic related to wellness.” He has a science background, wow. This “study” [www.ajcn.org] has been shown to be wrong since it was published in 2002.
@Dervish: correct, there is a lot of bull shit on HFCS out here with zero evidence.
@colinjay: anyone drinking sugary drinks that is a bunch of empty calories should not be complaining about HFCS.
@BrodskyLaw: Hey the author is “Linda Forristal, CCP, MTA is the author of Ode to Sucanat (1993) and Bulgarian Rhapsody (1998).” Now thats someone I can believe on HFCS. George Bush says its bad too.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: “I’m fairly certain that most of the really harmful effects of HFCS come from the form most commonly used in sodas, though I’m sure the type found in almost every other food stuff isn’t much better.” You are fairly certain? Based on what? Research? Dropping acid?
The sad part about this commercial? I let my kids drink kool-aid at a church function one time, and my mother-in-law used the whole “I guess you don’t care about your kids” line on me. For the exact same reason.
@celestebai: Don’t you make Kool-Aid with regular sugar? Or have things changed that much since I was a kid?
@eelmonger: It was some canned variety, where you pour it into pitcher and add water. Maybe not kool-aid, per se, but I know it had hfcs because my mother-in-law checked the ingredients.
Most mysterious place I’ve found it (so far) has been in a can of kidney beans. So I rinse all the beans now. But I’m sure I’m still getting some grams of sugar regardless. Then I eat them while wearing my tinfoil hat!
I wish I could have been there when they were filming that commercial, I would have gone on for 15 minutes on what bad about HFCS…
If the corn industry is motivated to defend HFCS (which is of course obvious and the position taken by many of the current posters), is it not equally likely that various “Green” grocers/producers (specifically, those using cane sugar and other not-HFCS sweeteners) are equally motivated to attack HFCS?
A few of the positions (not all) here seem to be solely/primarily “the corn industry says HFCS is not so bad = HFCS IS bad,” but if we accept that argument as acceptable to this debate, why are “Green” (just using a sloppy catch-all term here) grocers/producers absolved from the same critique) i.e. “the Green industry says Cane Sugar is not so bad = Cane Sugar IS BAD.”?
I would contend both sides are equally motivated to attack the other position/ prop up their own position, for the sake of EVIL PROFITS.
“It’s made from corn”
“So’s ethanol and you don’t see me eating it.”
@chiieddy: Don’t eat ethanol (booze)? Mormon?
The website says it is “Nutritionally The Same as Table Sugar” which is untrue. It is made of the same components and same ratios of fructose and glucose, but in table sugar it is chemically bonded while HFCS it is its individual components. There is a difference.
Uhhh…..A spoon full of HFCS will make the medicine go down? (Sing with the Mary Poppins(sp?) tune)
I bet cigarette companies wish they thought of the “fine in moderation” tagline.
I think there has been some recent buzz that indicates that HFCS interferes with appetite control. Apparently, if you consume real sugar, your body knows when you’ve had enough and shuts down your hunger cravings. But this isn’t the case with HFCS.
Sorry, I don’t have any articles to link. I heard it on news blurbs a few weeks ago.
@crabbyman6: Posting something from ‘naturalnews.com’ does not really lend much credibility to your argument. Please note that if you actually read the studies quoted in the article you will see:
[www.ajcn.org]
Conclusion: There was no evidence that commercial cola beverages sweetened with either sucrose or HFCS have significantly different effects on hunger, satiety, or short-term energy intakes.
@satoru: Well let’s look at the study you provide:
First of all, it included a vast sampling of 37 people, which when split into 5 groups, resulting in 7.4 (!) people per group. Not a pretty significant sampling, huh?
Second, the data was mostly self-reported (“perceived sweetness, hunger and satiety profiles,or energy intakes at lunch”). No analysis of insulin, leptin or other biochemical markes was included.
Third, the study was (suprise) supported by a grant from the American Beverage Association, by the Corn Refiners Association, and by fellowship T32 DE07132 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (to PM).
Alternate health sites (like naturalnews.com) exist because most mainstream avenues for receiving health information and our government regulatory bodies have been corrupted by industry influences and can’t be trusted.
@LatherRinseRepeat:
I’ve read the same things about appetite control–not just with HFCS, but other dietary items and ingredients… the “my body doesn’t know when it’s full” line is used by overweight people and diet programs over and over… there may be a subtle difference due to ingredients, but I think it really comes down the individual, our brain and will power are the keys to not over eating…
I have two cats, they’re about the same age, were raised together, similar breeds. They eat the same food… one of them is a fatty and the other is not…
The fatty is much more sedentary, and I suspect spends more time at the food bowl then the other based on casual observation…
Why is one fat and the other not? Whatever the reason is, it’s not the food.
There are lots more reasons to hate HFCS, but the “it causes overeating” is a cop-out IMHO :^)
Fine in moderation??? lemme see, its used in almost everything in place of suger so when you add it up on a daily basis how is that “in moderation”???
The process for making this sugar substitute is a complicated one that combines cornstarch with various enzymes, which then create glucose and fructose. High Fructose Corn Syrup is less expensive to produce than to use sugar in products.
Besides overloading our bodies with empty calories, HFCS also limits Leptin secretion in the digestive system. Leptin is a hormone that signals the brain when you are full.
Therefore, if your brain never gets the message that you are full, you are likely to over-eat and ingest more calories that lead to weight gain.
In addition, this manufactured sweetener increases the production of Ghrelin. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases your appetite.
Ghrelin sends signals to the brain to indicate that its time to eat and interferes with your body’s natural appetite control system. Therefore, HFCS puts your appetite into “hyper-overdrive.”
Our bodies were not designed to digest and process high fructose corn syrup. As more studies are done, there is mounting evidence that it harms our bodies on many levels and is not safe for human consumption.
The majority of nutritionists blame high fructose corn syrup consumption as a major culprit in the nation’s obesity crisis.
@rewinditback: “Besides overloading our bodies with empty calories, HFCS also limits Leptin secretion in the digestive system.
In addition, this manufactured sweetener increases the production of Ghrelin. “
I had not heard of these effects before from HFCS, do you have any documentation? Not trying to be a jerk, just would actually like to see the studies.
When discussing HFCS with people, I bring out the big words like “Glycemic Index” first. That usually gets the other person curious so I then go on to explain simple carbs vs. complex carbs, diabetes, etc.
@Trai_Dep: Studies have been performed that show no difference in satiety between consuming HFCS and regular sugar.
Many of the studies that implicate HFCS as much worse than sucrose are misleading. They either compare HFCS to pure fructose, which absolutely has different metabolic effects, or they don’t use a control at all.
The wikipedia entry on HFCS is a reasonably good way to get an idea of the relevant research. From that entry: “Some of the above-referenced studies have addressed fructose specifically, not sweeteners such as HFCS or sucrose which contain fructose in combination with other sugars. Thus, although they indicate that high fructose intake should be avoided, they don’t necessarily indicate that HFCS is worse than sucrose intake, except insofar as HFCS contains 10% more fructose. Studies which have compared HFCS to sucrose (as opposed to pure fructose) find that they have essentially identical physiological effects.” Another good source (and a good health blog in general) is [junkfoodscience.blogspot.com]
I don’t like it because of the taste and the agricultural/industry-subsidizing issue, but it’s not what’s making us fat.
@Dervish: The evidence you just posted does not disprove that HFCS is what is making us fat. I agree that it probably isn’t significantly different metabolically. The issue with obesity is that HFCS is being added to all kinds of products where regular sugar would not be. They’re adding it, for example, for texture or to promote increased shelf life (it has a mild preservative effect). So the issue I have with HFCS is not that I think it’s some poisonous magic sugar that will make you balloon up. It probably isn’t. It’s that it causes people to consume more calories than they otherwise would just because it’s been added to so many things.
“Fine in moderation”?! Too bad it’s in EVERYTHING!!!
I also just love that on the website they claim that it “doesn’t make you fat” noooo, it just causes heart disease! Great…so I won’t require an oversized coffin when I’m dead…THANKS!
@Nic715: that’s what I’m saying. You can’t moderate your intake if it’s in EVERYTHING.
I call serious FUD with this ad campaign, not to point out the obvious or anything.
@Alex Chasick: Yes, this astroturfing campaign is trying to heavily promote the “natural” angle. The mere fact that it’s produced from a natural ingredient does not make it “natural” (which is really a vague propaganda term, anyway, but I might define it as “naturally occurring”).
You know what they say about HFCS?
No, what?
It’s produced by a domestic monopoly of corn harvesters who keep the price of can sugar artificially high through government controls while simultaneously receiving billions in taxpayer funded boondoggles. The average corn farmer is not a family run farm but rather a farming industry run by the likes of Archer-Daniels-Midland who don’t make enough just producing corn so they have to steal money from every American in the form of subsidies. In many years, corn farmers are paid NOT to grow corn. Corn is less environmentally friendly than can sugar. It is more expensive to produce. It requires more energy to convert corn to ethanol than it does cane or beet sugar. It tasts different from regular sugar. It is highly processed and refined using such natural products as chlorine (aka bleach). It may be more easily absorbed into the bloodstream than sucrose, thus resulting in higher blood sugar levels and has been linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cancer. Further, it corrupts our democratic government by sending powerful lobbyists to Washington to bribe and cajole our representatives into continuing the unending cycle of subsidies and tax breaks.
@harvey_birdman_attorney_at_law: Citations for part/any/all of your statements?
Thanks.
@harvey_birdman_attorney_at_law: Someone needs to totally dub that over the commercial and post it on you tube, seriously!
I found this on the Mayo Clinic Website,
[www.mayoclinic.com]
Of course, the HFCSfacts website contradicts most of this information, but many studies have shown that HFCS is more readily converted to fat than is cane sugar. I believe this is because of the high ratio of fructose to glucose in HFCS. Combine the gross proliferation of HFCS in the food supply with a (sadly,typical) sedentary lifestyle, and you have a recipe for a total health disaster.
I personally do my best to avoid it, but I also don’t beat myself up if I do let some slip in on accident. The stuff isn’t very good for you, but a little bit is not gonna kill you either. Just try to stay active, and keep some balance in your diet.
Why yes, I DO know what they say about HFCS: They say it destroys biodiversity by requiring even more corn crops (Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan, blah blah blah), that its being cheaper to produce than sugar has not led to decreased prices but rather increased consumption in the form of enormous serving sizes (which is admittedly as much the consumer’s fault as the producer’s), that some scientific studies have shown that HFCS, by having a higher fructose content than ordinary sugar, can contribute to obesity and insulin resistance ([www.ajcn.org]), that a study by the American Chemical Society suggests a link between consumption of HFCS and diabetes ([www.newswise.com]), and that it’s incredibly disingenuous to describe something as heavily processed as HFCS as natural (as companies have previously done: [consumerist.com]) or even free of artificial ingredients.
@Alex Chasick: See, those are more the reasons I avoid it. Corn producers talk on the news about not having enough corn for ethanol, fuel and food and how food prices will go up. Well, if less HFCS was used in food, then those foods wouldn’t be as affected price-wise by corn, correct? And I’ve had pop with cane sugar and with HFCS and I like the taste of real sugar better. *shrugs* That’s just me.
There’s a full page ad in today’s Chicago Tribune calling the attacks on HFCS a “schmear” & showing a bagel spread with the stuff.
A little too Noo Yawkey for the rest of the country me thinks.
BUT IT’S MADE FROM CORN
And let us not forget that virtually all corn grown in the USA is genetically modfied. Since no labelling is required, we are ingesting a staggering amount of GMO products, via the HFCS that is in virtually all prepared foods.
My take on our food supply, be it HFCS, irradiating food, GMO organisms, cloned milk or beef, is that the government allow consumers to make their own decisions and require labelling, so we can make a choice about what we consume.
I remain amused and disturbed that a significant number of consumerist readers seem to advocate against consumer choice.
@Alex Chasick: Chi-Tang Ho’s study (linking HFCS and diabetes) was performed against a diet soda control – not a sucrose control. The study produced no evidence that HFCS was any worse for you than sucrose.
Regarding the first study you cited, the data shown is that overall levels of both fructose AND glucose have increased significantly in our diet. In fact, from the conclusion section, “First, added fructose (in the forms of sucrose and HFCS) does not appear to be the optimal choice as a source of carbohydrate in the diet.” It seems to say the problem is that we’re eating more sugar in general, but makes no claims that HFCS is the sole issue.
@Dervish:
I can now only find the link to the study abstract, and not the final report, so if he did actually compare HFCS sodas and diet sodas, that’s my mistake (although I don’t know why such an obvious study would be conducted). In any case, I dispute that he didn’t find any evidence that HFCS was worse than sucrose; from the abstract:
You also wrote:
I cited the first study because it analyzes the negative effects of fructose. Because sucrose is equal parts glucose and fructose, and HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose, it seems that HFCS is worse. That being said, let me clarify that I agree that added consumption of sweeteners, whether HFCS or sucrose, is the main issue; whatever extra “evils” inhere in the consumption of HFCS (e.g., any negative health consequences, excessive processing, crop monocultures, etc.) are secondary to concerns over our Western diets and the inclusion of sweeteners in almost everything.
@Alex Chasick: “In any case, I dispute that he didn’t find any evidence that HFCS was worse than sucrose…”
The issue was that he didn’t test sucrose at all. He confirmed that HFCS-sweetened beverages have higher levels of these carbonyl compounds than diet sodas, but NOT that these compounds are not also present in sucrose-flavored beverages.
Further, his comment about glucose and fructose being “bound and chemically stable” in sucrose is inaccurate in the case of sucrose-sweetened beverages, since most of these beverages are acidic enough to cause cleaving of the sucrose molecule into glucose and fructose – like HFCS.
My response to your posting of the AJCN study was based on your claim “that some scientific studies have shown that HFCS, by having a higher fructose content than ordinary sugar, can contribute to obesity and insulin resistance.” But that is not what the cited study indicates. It does note that HFCS 55 has more fructose than sucrose, and it does note the metabolic effects of fructose, but nowhere does it state that HFCS and its extra fructose is causing us to get fat.
It’s true that HFCS 55 does have a slightly higher percentage of fructose than sucrose. If that extra 5% of fructose caused a significant difference in how it’s processed by our bodies, it would have come through in the data gathered by the multiple metabolic and satiety studies that compare sucrose and HFCS.
I don’t bother talking about HFCS with anyone because I want to avoid that holier-than-thou attitude. If someone’s interested or they constantly talk about their health or weight then I will, but otherwise he/she will probably not listen.
If you want to eat HFCS, fine; it’s a free country. But it irks me that it’s in pretty much everything, especially cheaper food products due to the enormous subsidies our federal government provides for corn seed corporations. Who eats cheaper food products? Children and families in lower income brackets who can’t afford to purchase foods with more natural forms of sugar in them. HFCS is hardly natural.
Instead of arguing over the pros/cons of HFCS, how about we all just eat normal food? For life of me I cannot figure out the appeal of eating over sweet, over salted, packaged crap. Drink some water every now and then instead of soda. If you really need a sweet, then go to a deluxe bakery and really make it worth it. Cook your own damn food! If everyone did this consistently, I promise we not be this fat as a nation.
And please spare me the line that bad food is cheaper. It absolutely is not. I bought a bag of lentils the other day and served it with brown rice and caramelized onions. Cost me around $2 and it made 5 servings or more.
But other than that, yeah these commercials are stupid. And that stuff they were drinking, didn’t look like something a human being ought to be consuming, HFCS or not.
@howtragic: I totally agree. The HFCS thing wouldn’t be such an issue if people weren’t eating way too much processed crap already. Eat real food, people! It’s worth paying a bit more for high quality food. Even if you discount any health benefits, you’re going to enjoy eating much more than you would eating the processed crap.
@howtragic: sanctimonious much?
As for moderating tastes, guys it’s not hard to avoid the stuff. Meats? Seafoods, Veggies? Fruits? Fresh versions of all have none of the stuff. 100% juice if you want juice. Milk.
The idea that it’s hard is silly. Now it’s hard if you demand a cookie or a soda. But to say that HFCS makes moderation impossible is more far-fetched than the commercial some of you are mocking.
@howtragic: Oh my god, I LOVE mjeddrah.
@howtragic: But.. but.. its America! And I have to work, pick up my 6 kids, make dinner before the hubby gets home so we can all pile in front of the tv and be *together (while we irradiate our brains)*. I don’t have time to actually COOK!
[/sarcasm]
Truly, its just laziness. Cooking takes time, skill, and fresh food is much more expensive than the over-packaged, portioned, preservative-filled stuff.
Why do you think people on diets eat up the “diet food” when all they really need to be doing is eating “real food” instead?? Its CONVENIENT.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: Yes, how awful that women no longer grind their own grain and make all their own preserves. It’s so conveeeeenient to just buy that bag of flour. Stupid lazy cows, if only they bothered to cook like us self-congratulatory clever people, nobody would need to worry about this nutrition stuff.
“And like sugar, its okay in moderation.”
That’s the funny thing. HFCS is in everything. I get something outta the fridge that isn’t sweetened with it. Fortunately, for my occasional cola fix, my local grocer sells Cott Cola, which as no HFCS. Although they should really consider changing the name to something more appealing.
The first commercial reminds me of my childhood. My parents kept us away, not from HFCS, but from sugar. We drank sugar-free Kool Aid, no sweet cereals for breakfast and very few things with refined sugar or HFCS.
I’m not sure what wives tale they were following, but I’m glad I didn’t get loaded up with either as a kid.
I look down on folks who shovel shit in their kids mouth regardless of whether its a natural or man-made poison.