High Fructose Corn Syrup aka Corn Sugar

If you've been watching the news lately you know two things.  One, there's an election coming up. And two, high fructose corn syrup is the new ebola.  There's been a lot of media coverage  about a study done by Princeton University ..."that has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same."  You can bet your elastic waistband that the press was all over this.  Finally, a simple answer to why Americans are fat and obesity numbers are on the rise.  It's all because of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS.)

Now before you run to the pantry and start throwing things out, know that not everyone agrees with the conclusion and methodology used in this study.  Marion Nestle, one of my personal heroes who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H in public health nutrition and has been covering the intersection of food, politics and sociology for the better part of three decades wrote on her blog, "How they came to these conclusions is beyond me..."  She goes on to say, "It has long been known that feeding sugars to rats makes them eat more and gain weight.  But, as summarized in Table 1 in the paper, the researchers did only two experiments that actually compared the effects of HFCS to sucrose on weight gain, and these gave inconsistent results.  Their other experiments compared HFCS to chow alone. The study is extremely complicated and confusingly described."

I'm sure the scientific community will be slugging this out for years to come but in the meantime, consumers are already voting with their wallets and avoiding products with HFCS like they were contaminated with radioactive waste.

In response to this, the Corn Refiners Association  (CRA) is petitioning the FDA to allow it to change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to Corn Sugar on package labels.  The CRA has also launched a public relations campaign to convince consumers that HFCS is simply sugar.  CRA is hitting the road, hosting panel discussions and handing out $50 gift cards as well as $15 gift card "door prizes" during their seminars.  Read all about it on 30 Minute Martha, written by friend, fellow blogger and mom extraordinaire Lain Ehmann. 

So what's all this mean for consumers?  It means your going to be seeing a slew of repackaged products that instead of containing HFCS now contain beet or cane sugar.  Take for example Sierra Mist

When the soda was packaged under the label above  it contained, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, treated water, natural flavors, citric acid, potassium citrate, potassium benzoate (preserves freshness) and calcium disodium edta(to protect flavor).  An eight ounce can contained 100 calories and 26 grams of sugar. 

 
 
Under the new packaging Sierra Mist Natural contains carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, natural flavor, potassium citrate.  This 8 ounce can contains 100 calories and 25 grams of sugar.

The American Heart Association recommends that most American women should consume no more than 100 calories per day or about six teaspoons of sugar. Regardless of whether it is HFCS or "real sugar" soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the number one source of added sugars in the American diet.  

Food manufacturers are once again preying on the public's fear and instead of coming up with healthier options, they chose to slap new packaging on the same old junk food.  Don't be tricked into buying something that undermines your eating goals. Make smart choices that support your health and look to limit the amount of added sugar in your diet.  Your heart will thank you for it.

Comments

[mamichelle]

Interesting! I've seen commercials on this and wondered. Thanks for enlightening us!