Sugar, we're going down

(Yes, it is, I agree, and here's what I think:)

Ok, seems we are back on the food topic. I can’t help it... people keep being stupid, so keep pointing it out.

Anyway, apparently, according to the Corn Industry, High Fructose Corn Syrup aka, HFCS is ok for us. There is a new ad campaign with 2 tv spots where they tell us how wonderful it is, and how we should read more about it at http://www.sweetsurprise.com/

Where to start... how about this little gem from the web site: "Myth: HFCS is not natural". OH Awesome, its natural, cool, ill take 10 boxes. Does this claim fool anyone? Ugh, unfortunately, I’m sure it does. Can I just point out the obvious... and seriously, I’m no rocket scientist, but simply because something comes from “natural source” doesn’t make it good or even, not bad. Cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coco plant. Um, hello, Cocaine – comes from a plant, so its natural, its will still kill you, and pretty quickly Im sure!!!

Take it a step further... is HFCS natural? Here is how its made:

First, cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called polysaccharides. Alpha-amylase is industrially produced by a bacterium, usually Bacillus sp. It is purified and then shipped to HFCS manufacturers. Next, an enzyme called glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose. Unlike alpha-amylase, glucoamylase is produced by Aspergillus, a fungus, in a fermentation vat where one would likely see little balls of Aspergillus floating on the top. The third enzyme, glucose-isomerase, is very expensive. It converts glucose to a mixture of about 42 percent fructose and 50-52 percent glucose with some other sugars mixed in. While alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry, pricey glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it. Inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are used only once, glucose-isomerase is reused until it loses most of its activity. There are two more steps involved. First is a liquid chromatography step that takes the mixture to 90 percent fructose. Finally, this is back-blended with the original mixture to yield a final concentration of about 55 percent fructose--what the industry calls high fructose corn syrup.

Ok, welcome back to the English part of the Blog. I lost track of how many words I can’t pronounce and have no friggin clue what they even mean... I can’t fathom what part of this would be considered natural. But as long as the base ingredient is corn, we can spin this baby as totally all natural and healthy!

Giving these guys the benefit of the doubt, if you eat it in moderation its not that bad...Ok, so cut back on soda right? Wrong, its in everything. Eating a normal diet of food from the store is going to give the average person WAY more than a moderate amount.

Really, you ask? Take a look at common items that have HFCS; bread (yes bread), most cereals, pretty much any sweet drink, candy, ketchup, cookies, cake, frosting, basically all sweet food, medicine, cough syrup, vitamins, crackers, ice cream, jams, jellies, syrups, pastries, most salad dressing, all kinds of sauces, dips, chips, some soup, granola bars... and the list just goes on and on.

I like this story from a medical study (keeping in mind its hard to only consume a "moderate" amount of HFCS unless you are specifically trying to aviod it)

Some recent studies have reported that "Rats normally live for a good two years," explains Meira Fields, Ph.D., research chemist at the USDA in Beltsville, Maryland. "But the rats in my study fed a high-fructose, low copper diets are dying after 5 weeks." One of the few human studies of low-copper, high-fructose diets was abruptly stopped when 4 of the 24 subjects developed heart-related abnormalities, according to Fields. High fructose diets have also been implicated in the development of adult-onset diabetes. Fructose, especially when combined with other sugars, reduces stores of chromium, a mineral essential for maintaining balanced insulin levels, according to Richard Anderson, Ph.D., lead scientist at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

Solid proof, no, interesting, yes.

OK, OK all else aside, no matter which side you are on, this is what does it for me: your body has no clue what to do with this stuff once you eat it! As we learnd earlier in how HFCS is made, it is already broken down into two parts, fructose and glucose. "The body’s cells don’t register this already broken down fructose as a signal to increase insulin production (as it would when it breaks it down itself) to burn it up, and so instead it gets stored as fat. Furthermore, The body interprets the sweetness as having eaten food, but doesn’t register any of the calories. This makes the body crave something more; and this is where the epidemic begins." Source

What really bothers me is that these TV ads are completley misleading, and while what they are saying may be remotlely justifiable, they are walking a VERY thin line. It reminds me of when, as a kid, my parents asked if I broke the window, and with a completley straight face I look my parents in the eye and say "No", totally confident I was being truthful because I knew fullwell that the baseball that I threw was really what broke the window. Was it the truth, yes, was it totally misleading, yes. Did it take my parents long to figure out the real truth, not at all.

I guess in reality, I should not be suprised by this. It is there job, as a business, to make money. So, when the company that produces HFCS has commercials telling us that its ok to eat it, its kinda to be expected. Just take a second to think about the source before you bite (pun intended)! One thing I have learned is that the source of information can be just as important as the information itself.

Maybe this is a strech but it makes me wonder, when big tabacco added the filter to cigarettes, were there all kinds of ad campaigns telling consumers how much “cleaner” and “smoother” and “healthier” they had become?

Well, guess in the long run, we are all gonna die any way, might as well taste some good "food" before we go.... So, yeah, I'll take fries with that.