Consumers are exerting their power and demanding natural sugars. The corn refiners would like to claim that HFCS is a natural sugar because it is made from corn. Well sorry boys, anything that involves over three paragraphs to roughly explain how it's made isn't natural. Check out this explanation of the process: Found HERE.
"The process for making the sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) out of corn was developed in the 1970s. Use of HFCS grew rapidly, from less than three million short tons in 1980 to almost 8 million short tons in 1995. During the late 1990s, use of sugar actually declined as it was eclipsed by HFCS. Today Americans consume more HFCS than sugar.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is produced by processing corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. It all sounds rather simple--white cornstarch is turned into crystal clear syrup. However, the process is actually very complicated. Three different enzymes are needed to break down cornstarch, which is composed of chains of glucose molecules of almost infinite length, into the simple sugars glucose and fructose.
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.
HFCS has the exact same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugar but it is obviously much more complicated to make, involving vats of murky fermenting liquid, fungus and chemical tweaking, all of which take place in one of 16 chemical plants located in the Corn Belt."
When I heard about these commercials it made my stomach hurt. Where's the truth in advertising here people? I'm begging you to watch this crap with a critical eye. Corn is BIG Money here in the USA. When their profits start shrinking, they aren't going to take it laying down. So PLEASE use your thinking skills here folks.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is produced by processing corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. It all sounds rather simple--white cornstarch is turned into crystal clear syrup. However, the process is actually very complicated. Three different enzymes are needed to break down cornstarch, which is composed of chains of glucose molecules of almost infinite length, into the simple sugars glucose and fructose.
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.
HFCS has the exact same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugar but it is obviously much more complicated to make, involving vats of murky fermenting liquid, fungus and chemical tweaking, all of which take place in one of 16 chemical plants located in the Corn Belt."
Did you make it through all that? Yikes. I for one, DO NOT BUY THAT HFCS is natural.
What started my blood boiling is this ad campaign:
When I heard about these commercials it made my stomach hurt. Where's the truth in advertising here people? I'm begging you to watch this crap with a critical eye. Corn is BIG Money here in the USA. When their profits start shrinking, they aren't going to take it laying down. So PLEASE use your thinking skills here folks.
So, when someone wants to know what's so bad about HFCS, you can whip out this factoid:
It's harder on your liver than booze.
OK, Here's what Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz Say about HFCS in there acclaimed book, You: The Owners Manual.
"Hold the Syrup
Your digestive system has two main hormones that control hunger and appetite. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases you appetite. When your stomach is empty, it sends ghrelin out requesting food. Leptin tells your brain that you're full. When you eat, your fat cells secrete it so that you stop eating. One of the biggest evil influences on your diet is the presence of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that is found in soft drinks and many other sweet processes foods. The problem is that HFCS inhibits leptin secretions, so you never get the message that your full. And it never shuts off ghrelin, so, even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that your hungry. The double whammy on our hormones has contributed to our enormously collective enormity..."
That's enough for me. I will continue to make my grocery purchases HFCS-free. Why, I just discovered that Post makes Frosted Shredded Wheat without HFCS, unlike their competition Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats.
Here's another thought for you: The Deceptively Sweet advertisers make the claim that HFCS "is fine in moderation". How much do you think moderation actually is? And how feasible is moderation when HFCS is in everything from bread, to fruit cups, to breakfast cereal?
Sorry Corn Refiners Association, I'm not buying it.
OK Here's what others say:
6 comments:
Scary stuff. I know I recommended Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" on this comment page before. His book talks a lot about corn. If you haven't read it, I recommend again. It changed the way we eat in our family. I think its terrible that we have to be so careful when feeding our families.
Thanks for posting this!
That stuff is POISON. We've been HFCS free for almost three years. Well... except for my beloved Dr. Pepper and the every now and then Cherry Coke from Sonic (I'm a junkie and I have a hard time saying no), but what's a girl to do. Although, I do love it when it gets really close to Passover (No, I'm not Jewish but I we love celebrating Passover) because I can readily get kosher Coke in our grocery stores (made with sugar not HFCS). For other coke junkies, Mexican coca-cola has never had HFCS and there is one Dr. P bottler in Texas who has never made the switch to HFCS at all. Yes, I do admit that I know too much about HFCS in Coke and Dr. P. You can lecture me or hold an intervention at a later date. I think my hubby is my enabler though - he lovingly brings me "the good stuff" on his way home from work, without my even asking.
Thanks for being a champion of real food, Becca. Your articulate and well-cited blog entry on HFCS is stellar. Thank you for putting it out there.
and you said no one left you comments! you ROCK mama! this stuff boils my blood too!
oh my god, i had no idea there was a flippin ad campaign out there for hfcs. disgusting indeed.
i think they should follow their "in moderation guideline" with their own stupidity.
thank you for sharing.
Hi - a friend passed along your blog to me. I was furious about these ads as well - there are 2 that I'm aware of. The tone is like, "If you think HFCS is bad for you you're stupid." I love the in moderation line - well, if it's supposed to be in moderation why is it in Orowheat Bread? Or most bread for that matter? Also you need to watch out for most yogurts - check the labels!!!
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