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High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)

#1
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8/29/07 at 1:13pm
  • Joined: June 2007
  • Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
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This is the first article that clearly links diabetes and HFCS.
In my cooking class I explain why calorie for calorie HFCS is worst then sugar and I make a good argument already. although this article does not dispute my explanations it adds to my concerns.

I foresee that this article could be a turning point that signals the beginning of the end for HFCS in food (probably years from now). Pretty soon the wave of discontent for this ingredient will swell like it did for transfats.

Soft drinks with HFCS may be a risk factor for diabetes

What do you think?
Luc H

I eat science everyday, do you?

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#2
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8/29/07 at 1:30pm
  • Joined: May 2006
  • Location: USA
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I hate HFCS and it's put in everything these days, which is why I try to make everything fresh (time is a problem). Not only that, but they're nicking my cranberries so that can add HFCS to them.
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#3
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8/29/07 at 4:41pm
  • Joined: August 2000
  • Location: Wisconsin USA
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As someone who must limit sugars of all types, including natural sugars in fruits, honey, etc. for health reasons, I'm not at all surprised by the findings. HFCS hides in many processed foods, putting consumers in the position of having to be chemists and food scientists just to do the weekly marketing.

As many here would agree, I'm not happy to have to use Splenda (sucralose) and Equal (aspartame). The ironic thing for me is that I didn't have a sweet tooth until I went on NutriSystem 17 years ago for 16 months and began consuming more artificially sweetened foods than ever in my life. :rolleyes:

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#4
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8/29/07 at 6:31pm
  • Joined: June 2001
  • Location: Minnesota
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It's not that bad if you eat HFCS a little at a time. Your body can only metabolize a coupla hundred kcal per hour. Eat 400 kcal of sugar in 5 minutes and you'll get diabetes too.
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#5
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8/31/07 at 12:12am
  • Joined: December 2006
  • Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA
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Thanks for posting the link. I've passed it on to some friends.

I'd really like to see HFCS and may other ingredients get out of our food. But that won't happen any time soon - too many people don't give a rat's patoot - all they want is cheap food. Can't blame them too much on that point.

I really, really try not to eat anything with additives, colors, preservatives, stabilizers, and anything with an ingredient that I'm unsure of. But there's so much hidden crap in our foods, so many companies lie to us or misrepresent their product, that it's hard to know what you're eating half the time. Why the heck do we need yellow dye in Vlasic pickles, for example? How many people even know that there is yellow dye in Vlasic pickles?

When companies like Monsanto make the laws governing our food, it's very difficult for most people to eat uncompromised food.

Shel
Shel
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#6
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8/31/07 at 6:41am
  • Joined: March 2002
  • Location: SLC UT
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We don't even really have to change the laws.

If there were a quality food consortium, they could supply a recognizable label of quality ingredients much the way UL does for home electrical gizmos or the ADA labels toothpaste and other such PRIVATE organizations. It could be done quicker, cheaper and without lobbyist input.

With the rash of Natural type food stores, I believe many brands would want such an independent label on their current quality products to help differentiate them in the market place.

Phil

The Cake is a Lie!

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#7
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8/31/07 at 7:20am
  • Joined: August 2000
  • Location: Wisconsin USA
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Besides, if they use more corn for alternative fuels, maybe the price of it will rise enough to make it a less-desireable ingredient from a marketing/pricing standpoint. I see signs posted in my supermarket explaining that the price of milk has risen as dairy cows' feed corn price has gone up due to so much corn being diverted to ethanol production.

Maybe we'll also be able to solve the feed problem with cattle (grain vs. grazing) because of this.

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#8
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8/31/07 at 1:07pm
  • Joined: January 2000
  • Location: Chicago, IL
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It's not so much the laws as it is the tax breaks and subsidies, from what I understand.Source

The recent news reports on diabetes I think opened a lot of eyes in the mainstream, and I think that's (thankfully) opened the door for cane sugar beverages to get more exposure.
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#9
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8/31/07 at 3:08pm
  • Joined: June 2007
  • Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Some little correction here:
Sugar is not used in beverages in Canada HFCS is.

Canada is a sugar producer and prices in Canada for sugar is cheaper then in USA. Canada does not have the farm bill/corn subsidies found in the USA yet HFCS is still economical to use rather then sugar.
Some reasons are:
no dissolving required nor heat involved with HFCS because it is liquid and readily dissolves in water.
HFCS does not crystallize.
HFCS does not cloud nor yellow clear beverages.
weight per weigh or calorie per calorie or at the same brix, HFCS is sweeter then sugar because it is composed of 55% fructose and 45%glucose which is sweeter then the disaccharide sucrose (table sugar) which is 50:50 fructose:glucose.

(by the way, Kosher for passover Coke IS TRULY better then the regular stuff)

PS: I have heard rumours that 7UP has switch to using sucrose instead of HFCS (I can't confirm this). Their marketing is gearing towards all from NATURE ingredients.

Luc H

I eat science everyday, do you?

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#10
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8/31/07 at 4:57pm
  • Joined: October 2005
  • Location: Vancouver, Canada
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HFCS is used for two main reasons, the first being cheaper than sugar. The other reason is that the more sugar/HFCS/ you dump in a product, the longer shelf life you have, and a side benefit is that it adds weight too!

Look at the producer's point of view: The development and advertising costs are enormous to bring out a new product, add to that, developing the machinery and production lines. So you gotta have a loooong shelf life, hydrogenated fats really helps too, but the more sugar/HFCS you dump in there, the longer shelf life you have. Besides, "preservatives" is a dirty word, glucose/ sugar, isn't--yet. With a long shelf life you can make a product run every month or so, and run other products on the same line too.

So it's a whole system to attack, the producers produce what the marketing people figure will sell, and the distributers demand a long shelf life in order to distribute the product.
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#11
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8/31/07 at 5:39pm
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  • Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
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I hate to disagree with you Foodpump but If you add sugar or HFCS to a food product (unless you add tons in it) you do not extent the shelflife of the product you actually make it susceptible to yeast and mold and for that reason you will need to use a preservative (sorbate or benzoate) to give the product some shelflife or hotpack (sterilize/pasteurize).

HFCS (and sugar) is used mainly for volume (adding heft cheaply), for moisture/evaporation control (keeping things nice and malleable), overall mouth feel, for taste enhancement (sweetness is what consumers like), Masking agent (reducing bitterness, acidity) and overall customer taste appeal.

I know this well because I have worked intimately with food development at food processors for 20 years. What is sad when you work with R&D people is to find out how many of them do not know how to cook so will believe everything an industrial chemical rep will give them.

HFCS is so heavily subsidies and dirt cheap, every food processors starts by this ingredient when developing a new food product.

Luc H

I eat science everyday, do you?

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#12
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9/18/07 at 9:38am
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I'm skeptical since many of ther organic and natural producvts are owned and made by the same major corporations that are providing the crap we're complaining about.

Shel
Shel
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#13
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9/18/07 at 10:16am
  • Joined: March 2002
  • Location: SLC UT
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In markets where such labels are available such as the UL listing for electrical things, ADA for toothpaste, they are sought out by both the consumer and the manufacturer.

The Cake is a Lie!

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#14
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11/6/07 at 7:20am
  • Joined: October 2007
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Hfcs

I've been living an organic lifestyle in the past three years, i'm really avoiding anything which has HFCS or other artificial flavors in. There is an awesome natural product, Stevia, which is discovered long time ago, an herb and it's is many times sweeter than sugar but still good for people with diabetes. You can find many info about it on the internet. The controversy is mainly because the sugar industry don't really want you to know about it. They haven't found any negative side effect consuming Stevia, it's natural and in my mind natural is always better than artificial. In Europe they are using it more more nowadays.
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#15
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11/6/07 at 8:37am
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HFCS is the devil as far as I'm concerned. I read a book called Fat Nation a while ago, that talked about how food policy has evolved and its effects, and it also talks about how the liver makes cholesterol out of HFCS too if I remember correctly.

My understanding of food labelling is that they can just simply call it "sugar" in a list of ingredients.

I recently heard a radio documentary on the processing of corn (most corn is grown for HFCS). They were discussing how they want to use the remaining corn by-products as animal feed, but when they feed it to farmed fish, the flesh comes out a horrible deathly putrid looking GREY. So their scientists were busy at work trying to figure out more chemicals and processes to take away the grey effect.

Celeste, I got wicked headaches from Stevia.
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#16
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11/6/07 at 8:45am
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Have you tried Xylitol?

shel
Shel
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#17
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12/12/07 at 1:57pm
  • Joined: August 2007
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Kuan is right. In moderation it's not supposed to be worse for us than regular sugar. The problem is that people eat too much of it, don't eat a properly balanced diet and don't read labels. I'm kind of amazed at how many people never really cook and just get the easy to make (just add water or throw in the microwave) stuff from the store. Maybe the answer is to start bringing things like cooking and nutrition classes back into the schools?
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