Remember back in October when I posted about the independent movie, King Corn? The movie wasn't in wide release when we first mentioned it, and so a number of you expressed interest in seeing it, but weren't able to find a screening anywhere. It's gotten wider distribution over the last six months, but for those of you who haven't been able to find the time or place to see it, I've got partially good news for you. A twenty minute clip of the film is now available on AOL video site, which means that I can embed that chunk of the movie here, for your viewing pleasure.

It all started pretty simply. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, interested in food production in this country, cast their eyes on corn growing in Iowa. They head for Greene, Iowa, a town from which they both happen to descend. They lease an acre of land from a local farmer and plant their corn. They stay with their crop, all the while doing research into cattle feed lots, the production of high fructose corn syrup, the diabetes epidemic in this country and the ways in which agriculture reform in the seventies set us up for the farming situation that we currently face.

If you are interested in food production in America, King Corn is a film to see. It is honest and fairly free from schtick. It presents the issues clearly, gives the experts opportunities to talk and makes me want to steer clear of most commercial brands of foods (since everything seems to contain high fructose corn syrup these days).

The film opened in New York today and will be showing across the country throughout the fall. For all the dates and cities, click here. The YouTube trailer is inserted after the jump for those of you who'd like to give it a gander.

The words "all natural" on the packaging of Capri Sun juice drinks have prompted a Florida woman to file a lawsuit against Kraft Foods, Inc., the drink's producer, the Associated Press reported. Assisted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Linda Rex of Boynton Beach, Fla., claims that the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup is what makes the drink in the little silver pouch less than "all natural." You might remember the CSPI from when they filed and then withdrew lawsuits against Kentucky Fried Chicken over trans-fat use last year, or for their similar actions against Starbucks. A recent press release from CSPI points out that the organization has also challenged 7UP's use of the word "natural." A statement from Kraft says that the "all natural" label was already on the way out and will soon be replaced with packaging that claims "no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives,'' the AP reported. CSPI's always-witty executive director Michael Jacobson, coiner of phrases such as "venti-sized health problems" and "Kentucky Fried coronary," said HCFS "would more accurately be called 'Fresh from the Factory.'"

Starting on January 1st, Jones Soda will be pushing its canned sodas to consumers instead of the bottled sodas that it is known for. They will continue to package the soda in bottles, but the switch to cans is intended to make the product more accessible as the company expands. Coinciding with that launch, Jones Soda has announced that they will be sweetening their sodas with pure cane sugar, rather than the high fructose corn syrup that they use now (the diet flavors are made with sucralose/Splenda). All of their canned sodas will use cane sugar and, by mid-2007, so will all of their bottled drinks.

Jones Soda says that the change is being made with consumer health in mind, even though nutritionists say that it is not any more harmful than other forms of sugar. The reality is that the switch is being made because shoppers are interested in anything that they think is good for their health. Neither sugar nor corn syrup is all that good for you, especially in large amounts, so claiming that it is healthier to drink the sugar-sweetened soda at the same time as they are trying to push sales seems to be a bit contradictory. That said, the taste is really the most important factor in soda selection and if the change improves the flavor of their sodas, which is already excellent (with a few exceptions), then it sounds like a good one.

High fructose corn syrup is something that we commonly hear we should avoid. When we ask why, we're told that it's bad for us. But is it really that bad? The New York Times takes a look at that question by going straight to the source and talking to the scientists who put out some of the first research linking HFCS to obesity, as well as many other members of the scientific and medical community.

Basically, the upshot of all this hype is that high fructose corn syrup isn't that bad - certainly no worse than other forms sugar. In fact, it is only high in fructose when compared to regular corn syrup and actually has less than table sugar. This doesn't mean that the medical community isn't saying it is health food, but experts like Dr. Walter Willett, the chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health, say '"There's no substantial evidence to support the idea that high-fructose corn syrup is somehow responsible for obesity," and seem to believe that we would still have an obesity problem if all the HFCS in food disappeared overnight.

More recent medical studies, instead of focusing on HFCS specifically, have looked at products that have added sugar in any form and recommend that they all be consumed minimally, whether the sweetener comes from corn, cane, beet or other sources.

Grenadine is the most popular fruit syrup used by bartenders. Unfortunately, the most popular and easy-to-find brand of grenadine, Rose's, has no acutal fruit in it at all. It's high fructose corn syrup with red food coloring in it.

Yum.

Grenadine is actually supposed to be a sweet syrup made from pomegranate juice, which lends it a distinctive color and flavor, though the corn syrup version has become so prevalent, that a straw poll I did revealed that many people believed grenadine was cherry flavored. It can be difficult to find a bottle of the real thing, but the Sonoma's Syrup Co sells an all natural, pomegranate grenadine that I was able to pick up at Williams-Sonoma, despite the fact that it is not listed on their website. The taste is worlds away from the corn syrup stuff and you can feel good about eliminating one more source of high fructose corn syrup in your diet.

When reading about New Seasons Market in the New York Times, I came across a reference to Rockstar energy drinks and their highly conservative provenance. According to the Times, "Rockstar's chief executive is Russell Goldencloud Weiner, who developed the company with the help of his mother and his father, Michael Savage, the far-right talk radio host." Because of this, New Seasons won't sell the beverage.

I don't drink it because of the high fructose corn syrup, but now I'm considering changing my view to not drinking because of the politics. I did a little surfing and found several references to the "anti-immigrant, gaybashing, intolerant, hate-filled" rhetoric of Savage ("Facism Cola") and the connection between New Season's decision and that of my neighborhood co-op, People's, to stop carrying Oregon Rain water because Lars Larson was their pitchman ("Radio-Active Fallout").

I've been fiercely opposed to the chemically-altered and highly sweet high fructose corn syrup for years, and it's amazing to me that, as long as it's been known to have serious affects on health, contributing to rising obesity and diabetes rates, it's still ubiquitously available in foods. It's super sweet, and it's cheap.

Kate Hopkins from the Accidental Hedonist is, like me, a long-time member of the anti-HFCS camp. She's developed an exceedingly well-researched answer to a reader's question on how to argue the HFCS case when many corn industry marketing folks rave about how "natural" the product is.