High Fructose Corn Syrup

I just watched a very disturbing commercial. Two mothers are chatting at a birthday party, one implies that she does not want the juice the other is pouring due to the high fructose corn syrup in it, and the other one asks "Why, because it's all natural?" The end of the commercial sites a website that states to 'find out the truth' and visit www.sweetsurprise.com. So, of course I had to check it out.

The part of the site that I had to check out was High Fructose Corn Quick Facts. Here is a listing of the facts that they provided:

1. The American Medical Association (AMA) recently concluded that "high fructose corn syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners."

2. Research confirms that high fructose corn syrup is safe and no different from other common sweeteners like table sugar and honey. All three sweeteners are nutritionally the same.

3. High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as table sugar and is equal in sweetness. It contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients.

4. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted high fructose corn syrup "Generally Recognized as Safe" status for use in food, and reaffirmed that ruling in 1996 after thorough review.

5. High fructose corn syrup offers numerous benefits. It keeps food fresh, enhances fruit and spice flavors, retains moisture in bran cereals, helps keep breakfast and energy bars moist, maintains consistent flavors in beverages and keeps ingredients evenly dispersed in condiments.

To dispel some of these misleadings, I went to the site of Dr. Andrew Weil (www.drweil.com).

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) made it into the US food system in the 1970s, mainly because it tastes sweeter than regular corn syrup, blends well with other foods, maintains a longer shelf life and is cheaper. I'm thinking that they keyword in all of that is 'cheaper'. The concern is how the body metabolizes this, as the body doesn't utilize fructose very well, and never before has it been consumed in such quantity. According to an article by Kevin Millard, HFCS heads straight to the liver when ingested where it is turned into fat, but it does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin (which acts as a hunger quenching signal). So, we are in a viscious cycle, eating and drinking food that immediately converts to fat and never feeling full.

Let's get onto the fact of whether this product is 'natural'. The FDA bases its term 'natural' on whether or not HFCS constituents come into contact with a sythetic fixing agent during manufacturing. But on the other side of this, it cannot truly be considered natural because the chemical bonds are broken and rearranged during manufacturing.

Overall, HFCS is a tell-tale sign of low-quality food and should be avoided.

"High Fructose Corn Quick Facts". Sweet Surprise

Kevin Millard, "Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup".

"High Fructose Corn Syrup: Too Sweet to Eat?" Dr. Andrew Weil