the campaign to make high fructose corn syrup a health food
Dear GreenSmoothieGirl: I’m a doctor and have patients influenced by the ads lately promoting high fructose corn syrup as a nutritious food. How can I convince them otherwise? Answer: I believe HFCS to be the most destructive of the refined, concentrated sweeteners (with white cane sugar being a close second). Please read labels and avoid it. I could write my own article on HFCS, but I’m going to give you a link to an article by Rich Stacel, who summarizes research on the subject well and describes how ludicrous the ads by HFCS manufacturers are: http://www.naturalnews.com/024466.html Adding my two cents: the ads say that the stuff is nutritious because it’s made from corn. As vegetables go, corn is no power player. In its whole form, it’s fine–go ahead and eat it. But in the 50′s when canned goods became the rage, homemakers thought a little canned corn or peas on the edge of the plate covered the bases for “vegetables.” Corn’s a plant, right? And plants are good! Fritos are made from corn, too. So are some gasolines. The drug Digitalis started as a plant. Want to feed any of these to your toddler? I paraphrase the great and wise, late Ezra Taft Benson, once head of the federal government’s agriculture department: Any time we alter a food, we do it to our detriment.
I just saw one of those commercials tonight!! I was appalled, to say the very least. Here’s the site: http://www.sweetsurprise.com/
The whole thing is just a comical play on words, like you mentioned Robyn. Anything from corn can’t be bad, or any more harmful than any other caloric sweetener. I am almost disturbed!
I think the world health organization should come out with a commercial that complements people for standing up against what they know is bad even when they can’t remember why!! That is me most of the time. But it is a good reminder when I can’t remember why I am doing something to read back up on it so I can educate my DH or whoever is asking me about my peculiar habits.
Heee, love the end when you tell us what else is made from corn!! So true.
I saw a full page ad in USA Today awhile back that said something like ” HFCS has been getting a bad name, but the “truth” is that is has the same nutritional value as sugar.
That is a true statement, and would be funny if it wasn’t so harmful
to our health.
I just think it’s funny, as it DOES have the same nutritional value as sugar, which is NONE! Wait, but that’s not enough, then they pervert even something that has NO value into something even WORSE! Ay, they hit the nail on the head, and yet we still cram it into our mouths (and I’m no different, I are a brownie with ice cream last night for my birthday dinner).
I love that the best defense the corn refiners have for their product is to have a person to go up against someone who is uninformed and comes off (in the commercial) as an idiot. They don’t need scientific studies or even anecdotal evidence. With competition like that, anyone could prove anything they wanted to. “I don’t know why drugs are bad for me and the nice man on the corner says they’re not, so it must be ok.”
Hi my name is Liz and I work with the Corn Refiner’s Association. I wanted to share some infromation about High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Both sugar and high fructose corn syrup contain 4 calories per gram, and your body metabolizes them the same way. Like sugar or honey, high fructose corn syrup has calories. Excessive calories, from whatever source, can promote weight gain. But replacing high fructose corn syrup with sugar will not reduce obesity or improve health. They are the same.
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently concluded that “…high fructose corn syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners…”
It can be confusing trying to buy the right foods for your family when there are so many choices and so little time. When reading food labels, you can have peace of mind in knowing that high fructose corn syrup is no different than sugar or honey – your body handles them the same way and they all have the same number of calories.
There’s a lot of solid research and information at http://www.SweetSurprise.com and http://www.HFCSFacts.com.
Thank you for your consideration.