They may say it is the same as sugar, but my problem with high fructose corn syrup in drinks is the taste. I just don't like it and prefer to drink teas and colas that use cane sugar.

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I'm always suspicious of PR campaigns generated by lobbying groups. That being said, I'm sure HFC is just fine in moderation. The problem is being able to moderate it. Survey the fridge in an average home, and I bet you'll be surprised by what contains HFC. How can we moderate our consumption when it's so hard to escape?

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I agree the commercials are a bit creepy and strange - it feels weird to have this odd ingredient treated both like a perfectly "natural" substance and an addictive drug at the same time...

I'm in the "I don't care" camp - HFCS is chemically similar to table sugar and is treated much the same by our bodies (except tongues...). The cheap cost (vs. cane sugar) is the reason it's in everything. It's also reason it gets blamed for a rise in obesity - replace cane sugar with HFCS, lower your cost, and suddenly restaurants can offer free refills and super sizes without hurting profits.

Personally, I ignore the ingredient labels and instead check the nutrition label for the amount of sugar in a product. If it's higher than I like (say, sugar > fiber in bread), I don't buy it.

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I guess I need to find some unbiased information. I always thought HFCS was godawful for you compared to sugar.

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I agree w/ you Greg. I remember when the cotton ads came out and all I could think was "Okay, what's wrong with cotton that they have to spend money trying to sell it to me - it's kind of hard to avoid."

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I've never gotten too upset about the HFCS issue or seen why others are, so I thought this ad was funny. But it does remind me a little too much of the "We Call It Life" ads the oil companies were running about CO2 emissions a while back for me to be completely comfortable with it.

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The big problem with HFCS is not the health issues... it is indeed just basically sugar, though even faster to turn into energy/fat. But it's the huge, farm-destroying, pesticide-induced frenzy of an industry that's taken over a huge portion of America's farmlands in the name of corn. The product itself might not be SO bad, but the destructive, horrid industry that makes it is ruining America's farmland.

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Let me put it this way, you still gonna get diabetes even if you switch to a soda that is naturally sweetened with agave, cane, or what ever gimmicky natural thing you put in it.

People these days really need to think about WHAT is unhealthy and what is not, not just have it fed to them by all these organic/natural fake-treehugging businessmen. At least King Corn caught on and start copying what these guys are pulling.

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BTW, it's not as hard to avoid as you seem, Just don't drink sweet stuff. Isn't that simple? Don't leave it around the house either.

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Even if all of the other negatives are untrue (which is far from clear), the presence of HFCS is a marker for "heavily processed using the cheapest possible ingredients". Nobody puts HFCS in food because it's better than sugar, only because it's cheaper. That alone is reason enough to avoid it.

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@DoDO: BTW, it's not as hard to avoid as you seem, Just don't drink sweet stuff. Isn't that simple? Don't leave it around the house either.

Does bread qualify as "sweet stuff"? Pickles? Crackers? Look around your supermarket - it's getting hard to find these products without HFCS in regular supermarkets.

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The biggest problem with HFCS isn't the potential negative health benefits, but that the consumption of billions of lbs of it props up a completely synthetic food economy with profound negative consequences for ordinary Americans. I'm in the middle of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, and it's been a real eye-opener for me.

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Love the fact that both of the HFCS ads push the stuff by showing people consume cr*p! Better the mother in add was pouring a glass of tapwater (even cheaper than generic pink drink), or actual fruit juice.

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Saying "I don't care" about HFCS is pretty aggravating; you're simply shutting your eyes to how much damage this stuff causes to the food economy as well as our bodies.

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Rose said...

I agree w/ you Greg. I remember when the cotton ads came out and all I could think was "Okay, what's wrong with cotton that they have to spend money trying to sell it to me - it's kind of hard to avoid."

Yes but that was probably more of a response to other fabrics. This is a response to the fact that HFCS is a manufactured product that people are saying they don't want. My family is trying to go HFCS free but as someone said, it's in everything. Yeah sugar isn't the best but it's not made through some frankenstein process.

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The problem IS the health benefit. Even though they are chemically "similar", our bodies do not process high fructose corn syrup the way they do sugar. The stuff is absorbed faster, spiking blood sugar and driving insulin resistance. I wonder if anybody has done matching curves on the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into food manufacturing and the higher incidence of diabetes in the population.

I'm hoping that corn ethanol will catch on big time in the US, thus driving up the cost of corn so that high fructose corn syrup begins to disappear from processed foods. Meanwhile, I avoid it if at all possible (when eating out you don't always know what you're getting).

They wouldn't put all that cash into a commercial unless they thought they had to "spin" something bad into something good.

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This is just another nail in the coffin for free trade on food. Natural cane sugar is actually cheaper than corn syrup right now if you minus the subsidies.

The goal here from the government is to eventually work HFCS into being "certified organic." This in turn will allow the big corporate organic providers to tap a new market of idiots by saying "it's all natural under FDA guidelines." You will then have Organic for idiots and then Organic because people support the validity of the products content.

Also note now that 7-up is 100% natural!

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@adam feilds, sorry I don't think you read my rant. JUST EAT HEALTHY AND STOP NAGGING. There, easy isn't it? I'm comparing SODA to TEA, not white bread made from HFCS or agave sugar. because hell, my body process the HFCS and agave sugar all the same. AND YES, both types of sugars will surge thru your system regardless, im not saying HFCS is better or worse, infact, if it was a drug, I'll just label it a generic, because it has the same chemical effect in our bodies.

Go wiki, or google HFCS, and if you know better, whats the difference if you swallow two teaspoons of HFCS rather than sugar tabs? kinetic studies/blood studies show no neglible difference, so eat that. I would like you to go to your DR or dietician and b=whine about the HFCS, because If you came to me I would laugh inside...but you wont see it =)

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I had to do a double-take when I heard the ad, hot in the heels of having read Barry Estabrook's Gourmet blog entry which pointed to a study linking quick fat build-up to fructose consumption.

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/09/08/politics-of-the-plate-how-sweet-it-isnt/

Sweet is NOT inherently bad. The way we get there can be. And moreover - I always feel as if I can taste when HCFS is present -- just a weird, cloying gloppiness. I'll take mine with sugar, please.

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HFCS gives my brother migraines, sugar does not.

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