Corn sweeteners: enjoy in moderation?
June 23, 2008
My upstate New York edition of the New York Times today carries a full-page, full-color advertisement from the Corn Refiners Association: “A little sweetness in life is good. And what sweetens a lot of our favorite foods and beverages are sugars made from corn, such as high fructose corn syrup. It has the same natural sweeteners as table sugar and honey. And the same number of calories. But like most foods, sweeteners should be enjoyed in moderation. Please visit our website and learn the facts.”
I went right to the website and took the quiz. If you were wondering why this group would buy an expensive ($80,000?) ad like this, check out question #3: “Which of the following sweeteners is considered a natural food ingredient? (a) High fructose corn syrup, (b) Honey, (c) Sugar, (d) All of the above.” Aw come on. You can guess.
[…] to Marion at What to Eat, they are producing a full color, full page ad touting high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as just as […]
Pingback by High Fructose Corn Syrup Propaganda - Like the Tobacco Wars All Over Again « Green Plan(t) — June 23, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
Marilyn:
You have said repeatedly that it is all about calories. It is about calories for obesity. It is about calories for Type 2 diabetes.
What does it matter WHERE the calories come from? HFS, spelt, oatmeal, pork fat?
What does ‘natural’ have to do with it?
You are confusingly inconsistent.
Comment by Ivan Road — June 23, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
I find this highly disturbing! We’ve just finished weeding out the last of the HFCS products in our house because we realized the damage it was doing to my 19-month-old’s behavior. He’s now a completely different kid, almost tantrum free, and sleeping better!
No different my hiney.
Comment by Amy - Green Plan(t) — June 23, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
A little sweetness IS good. But, sweetness is available in many packages fresh from nature in the form of fresh fruits that also bring fiber and many nutrients along with the natural sugars. I am having trouble thinking of a food product made with HFCS that has such a natural array of fiber and nutrients.
And the food industry has allowed HFCS to intrude in many foods that I would not expect to need to be sweetened, such as tomato sauce, canned diced tomatoes, canned black beans.
Comment by Sheila — June 23, 2008 @ 10:25 pm
It’s interesting how only with recent rise in HFCS awareness people are digging through their cabinets checking ingredients.
Why didn’t this happen at the time of purchase?
The boogeyman food industry didn’t sneak HFCS into our food when we weren’t looking, most people bought it and consumed it for years without question when nutritionists and prudent parents have cautioned against added sugars in ingredient listings since forever.
HFCS may or may not be a reasonably produced commodity. Probably not especially in light of subsidies.
HFCS may or may not have some unique qualities that make consuming it worse than consuming table sugar. There’s data to suggest this, but if added sugar consumption is low throughout diet, it’s probably not be a big deal.
If HFCS wasn’t ubiquitous it would be some other added sweetener; its use in packaged foods and consumer acceptance is a symptom, not the root of the problem.
Comment by Hylton — June 24, 2008 @ 10:34 am
It’s interesting how only with recent rise in HFCS and corn awareness people are digging through their cabinets checking ingredients.
Why didn’t this happen at the time of purchase?
The boogeyman food industry didn’t sneak HFCS into our food when we weren’t looking, most people bought it and consumed it for years without question when nutritionists and prudent parents have cautioned against added sugars in ingredient listings since forever.
HFCS may or may not be a reasonably produced commodity. Probably not especially in light of subsidies.
HFCS may or may not have some unique qualities that make consuming it worse than consuming table sugar. There’s data to suggest this, but if added sugar consumption is low throughout diet, it’s probably not be a big deal.
If HFCS wasn’t ubiquitous it would be some other added sweetener; its use in packaged foods and consumer acceptance is a symptom.
Comment by Hylton — June 24, 2008 @ 10:37 am
@Ivan: I think when someone says ‘it’s only the calories that are important,’ they are speaking of weight management. If you are trying to lose, gain or maintain body weight, calories in vs calories out is the important point.
The discussion around HFCS has more to do with it being a highly processed and cheap sweetener that has made its way into most processed foods. As Hylton says, it may or may be many things. We just don’t know for sure. But it is everywhere and it doesn’t occur naturally. Because of this, it’s prudent to check into it’s safety - both acute safety and the impact of this cheap sweetener on out total calorie intake.
Comment by Kati — June 24, 2008 @ 2:33 pm
Does the Corn Refiners Association really want us to eat sweetened foods in moderation? Because right now we, as a public, do not. If we did, less HFCS would be sold. Do they really want this ‘education’ campaign to work or are they making an attempt so the consumer is the one to blame for not eating sweet foods in moderation.
Comment by Kati — June 24, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
The CRA website is of course, pure propaganda. That ‘quiz’ was solely created to assuage the suspicions of skeptics, but then again, maybe it was created to assuage any guilt CRA employees may be harboring; because any informed person would know how nasty and harmful HFCS is. But I think that barely anyone out there knows what HFCS is, and most people, if they even read it on the label, could not tell you what it is. I would venture to say that a lot of people reading labels would not even identify it as sugar, even when they see it as the first, second or third ingredient, as it so often is billed.
What is additionally really upsetting, to me, about HFCS is that I used to be able to avoid it by buying cheaper European, especially Eastern European canned foods at my local ethnic markets, but now even the EU has opened the floodgates for HFCS. Also, at my health club, they sell tons of those “energy bars”, and most of these bars contain tons of HFCS. They were passing out free samples of this new bar (that was actually a cookie); I looked on the back and found that HFCS was at the top of the very long list of ingredients.
Comment by jerry C — June 28, 2008 @ 9:47 am
My name is Liz and I work with the Corn Refiner’s Association. I wanted to share some information in response to your above post. High fructose corn syrup is made from corn and contains no artificial ingredients or color additives. Whether a sweetener comes from the cane, cob or comb – whether it’s sugar, high fructose corn syrup or honey – they’re all basically the same as far as your body is concerned. They all have a very similar composition. The FDA recently clarified that high fructose corn syrup can be labeled as natural. High fructose corn syrup, like table sugar and honey, is composed of fructose and glucose, which are found in many naturally-occurring fruits, vegetables and nuts, and high fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and honey – 4 per gram.
There’s a lot of solid research and information at www.SweetSurprise.com and www.HFCSFacts.com. Or if you’re looking for an outside source, this NY Times article discusses some of the misperceptions surrounding HFCS.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02syrup.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Thank you for your consideration.
Comment by Liz — August 13, 2008 @ 11:47 am
I love that the corn refiners association has joined the discussion. If it was such a great thing, why aren’t other countries embracing it over sugar in their food?
I’m at the point not where I’d simply would like high fructose corn syrup to get it out of our diets. I signed on to a campaign to ask cola companies to switch from HCFS to cane sugar or beet sugar at http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/dear-high-fructose-corn-syrup-please-get-out-of-us-colas-thanks-america
At another forum for diabetics, one guy tried HCFS. Measured his blood sugar. Then he tried cane sugar. Measured his blood sugar. His blood sugar with HCFS was twice as high as his blood sugar with cane sugar. His comment is just above here http://tudiabetes.com/forum/topics/583967:Topic:261850?page=1&commentId=583967%3AComment%3A327678&x=1#583967Comment327678 {I couldn’t figure out a direct link - sorry} Thanks.
Comment by waku2waku — November 13, 2008 @ 1:26 pm