commercials for high fructose corn syrup .. what is the reality?

Ok, has anyone seen these commercials?

Everything I have read previously, leads me to believe that this stuff will increase your appetite and has more calories than the same amount of sugar. So.. basically really bad for dieters, right?

Yet now these adverts are trying to make out that we are stupid for believing this and that there is nothing at all wrong with the stuff. their website is a bunch of propaganda that I think is probably mostly lies or twisting the truth.

I realize that most things in moderation are really ok...but is this stuff worse than sugar or not?? IS it worse because your body gets addicted in someway or something?

 

 

well my nutrition professor, and several fellow nutrition majors have been talking about it. The common belief with hfcs is that its metabolized in the body differently than plain old table sugar. ITs the perfect ratio of fructose to glucose, that leads to problems.

ALso, the simply fact that its in every thing is probably alot worse than what it chemically does. Imagine eating everything you eat with sugar in it. Not good for your insulin.

Another point is that because it actually tastes sweeter than sugar, when you eat things made with real sugar, rather than corn syrup, you feel like you need to add extra sugar.

HFCS is worse than sugar; it's metabolized as body fat instead of glucose like cane and beet sugars. Also, you'll notice that those ads are run by the corn industry - go figure.

The advertisements also speak of it  "in moderation." It is hard to have HCFS in moderation because it is in EVERYTHING!

No kidding! I recently noticed it's in Rice Krispies. I was so disappointed! I've switched to Rice Chex now.

I'm instantly suspicious of companies making health-claims about their products.  Whether it's the HFCS industry or anyone else.  The simple food that's really good for us tends not to have powerful lobbyists, huge profit margins or any advertising budget to speak of.  On the whole, those are the foods I'd prefer to buy.

Rule of thumb....  I have no idea whether this stuff is dangerous or safe, but I do a lot of cooking and can say with absolute certainty that I have never once tasted the contents of my wooden spoon and then reached into the cupboard for a dash of HFCS.  

ive heard the reason hfcs is so bad is becuase of its high fructose content, which is fine when its binded in fruits naturally, but when its isolated and altered in HFCS, then its metabolized in a way that takes a very long time to breakdown, causes insulin swings, and hence..... Fat Storage.

Is HFCS like Splenda or is it something else? I use splenda in my oatmeal and I haven't had any problems. But I only use it there... though I have used it on strawberries to make them sweeter.

I hate how just about everyone is so blunt on this issue and I hate it more when:

"IT'S MADE BY THE COMPANIES THAT MANAFACTURE THIS STUFF SO IT'S OBVIOUSLY PROPOGANDA."

Fine, don't believe them? Believe me, I don't work for anyone.

HFCS is just sugar. It's JUST sugar. It isn't any worse or better for you then ANY other sugar. It's just simple as that.

Does it break down differently? Maybe.

Does it effect your health? Well, let's talk about the REAL issue here. Anybody guess what it is, yet? OVER-CONSUMPTION. Yes, that's the REAL problem. HFCS aren't the problem. Fats aren't the problem. Refined sugars aren't the problem - OVER-CONSUMPTION is.

Why does everyone forget that? Nowadays it's just people whining about how certain substances in food are making them fat. A world full of excuses.

And I have to ask - Why are HFCSs even an issue? If you're not stuffing your face with a product containing loads of it, why are we worrying about it? It bothers me when someone whose been living and eating healthy, decides to stop eating a certain brand of food because they just found out it contains something the "majority" considers bad.

If you're not over-consuming HFCS - Hell, if you're not over-consuming sugars/simple carbs in general, eating healthy, consuming the right amount of calories, why are you cutting out every last thing out of your diet that people consider bad?

Then there's the argument that it's IMPOSSIBLE to have HFCS in moderation, IT'S IN EVERYTHING. Yeah, but that doesn't mean there's A LOT of it in everything. Let's just ignore the fact for now that the daily recommended allowance of sugars per day has yet to be established, and move on to a situation with the aforementioned dilemma...

Most breads nowadays are made-up with HFCS instead of brown or table sugars. Read the nutrition fact labels - You find that most will only have about 2-5 grams of it per serving. 2-5 grams, SOMEONE ALERT OF THE FITNESS POLICE. I will agree, however, that because there has yet to be an established daily recommended allowance for sugars, can cause a huge disorientation with someone trying to watch their sugar consumption.

Don't stop eating something just because it has HFCS in it; Check how much of it it has in it, then decide wether it's good for you or not. Besides, you shouldn't be consuming a lot of sugars in the first place.

I bet if HFCSs never existed - People would be complaining just as much about brown sugar/lactose/sucrose/fructose/cane sugar/and other refined sugars. Hell, I won't be suprised if someone starts a petition someday to ban some irrelevant substance in food and their stated reason for doing so would be: "Because it made me fat".

You made yourself fat; not the food. The government can't protect you from yourself.

Having had said all of that, mind you, I'm lost in this game just as much as most of you - Since there isn't any established daily recommended allowance for sugar, I don't know how much is too much. I'm often confused and I never know if I'm over-consuming or barely making it over the limit. It's worsened by people, after dozens and doezens of searches, all have different opinions on the matter.

20 grams a day! 50, no 100! NONE!

Bleh, I need some rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

interesting that you only have one post.

heheh, no artofphire is very intelligent in thier post.

like ive said, many nutritionists pretty much feel that HFCS is bad MOSTLY because its in EVERYTHING....

for example, some breads have HFCS as thier 3rd ingredient, meanwhile the sourdough bread i eat has no sweetener.

now, thier are reasons why chemically it causes weight gain, but i dunno.  However i disagree that HFCS is same as Honey, or rapadura sugar ( raw sugar)

i personally avoid HFCS because of the knowlegdge of what too much pure fructose can do, but agian, its only what ive been told and seen. Nutrition is one of the less concrete topics around. raw fructose lacks enzymes that break it down in the gut, its also metabolized in the liver as colesterol, triglicerides, and fat. ALso causes slow insulin response, wbhich is acutally quite bad

I was advised to avoid it by my cardiologist. So I do.

It was easy, because I make most of my meals from scratch (including bread) and any store bought brands that had it as an ingredient were replaced by organic substitutes or eliminated from the menu entirely.

I am in complete agreement with gi-jane:

"Rule of thumb....  I have no idea whether this stuff is dangerous or safe, but I do a lot of cooking and can say with absolute certainty that I have never once tasted the contents of my wooden spoon and then reached into the cupboard for a dash of HFCS."

I think that sums it up, perfectly.

  

 

Original Post by artofphire:

I hate how just about everyone is so blunt on this issue and I hate it more when:

"IT'S MADE BY THE COMPANIES THAT MANAFACTURE THIS STUFF SO IT'S OBVIOUSLY PROPOGANDA."

Fine, don't believe them? Believe me, I don't work for anyone.

HFCS is just sugar. It's JUST sugar. It isn't any worse or better for you then ANY other sugar. It's just simple as that.

Does it break down differently? Maybe.

Does it effect your health? Well, let's talk about the REAL issue here. Anybody guess what it is, yet? OVER-CONSUMPTION. Yes, that's the REAL problem. HFCS aren't the problem. Fats aren't the problem. Refined sugars aren't the problem - OVER-CONSUMPTION is.

Why does everyone forget that? Nowadays it's just people whining about how certain substances in food are making them fat. A world full of excuses.

And I have to ask - Why are HFCSs even an issue? If you're not stuffing your face with a product containing loads of it, why are we worrying about it? It bothers me when someone whose been living and eating healthy, decides to stop eating a certain brand of food because they just found out it contains something the "majority" considers bad.

If you're not over-consuming HFCS - Hell, if you're not over-consuming sugars/simple carbs in general, eating healthy, consuming the right amount of calories, why are you cutting out every last thing out of your diet that people consider bad?

Then there's the argument that it's IMPOSSIBLE to have HFCS in moderation, IT'S IN EVERYTHING. Yeah, but that doesn't mean there's A LOT of it in everything. Let's just ignore the fact for now that the daily recommended allowance of sugars per day has yet to be established, and move on to a situation with the aforementioned dilemma...

Most breads nowadays are made-up with HFCS instead of brown or table sugars. Read the nutrition fact labels - You find that most will only have about 2-5 grams of it per serving. 2-5 grams, SOMEONE ALERT OF THE FITNESS POLICE. I will agree, however, that because there has yet to be an established daily recommended allowance for sugars, can cause a huge disorientation with someone trying to watch their sugar consumption.

Don't stop eating something just because it has HFCS in it; Check how much of it it has in it, then decide wether it's good for you or not. Besides, you shouldn't be consuming a lot of sugars in the first place.

I bet if HFCSs never existed - People would be complaining just as much about brown sugar/lactose/sucrose/fructose/cane sugar/and other refined sugars. Hell, I won't be suprised if someone starts a petition someday to ban some irrelevant substance in food and their stated reason for doing so would be: "Because it made me fat".

You made yourself fat; not the food. The government can't protect you from yourself.

Having had said all of that, mind you, I'm lost in this game just as much as most of you - Since there isn't any established daily recommended allowance for sugar, I don't know how much is too much. I'm often confused and I never know if I'm over-consuming or barely making it over the limit. It's worsened by people, after dozens and doezens of searches, all have different opinions on the matter.

20 grams a day! 50, no 100! NONE!

Bleh, I need some rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Agreed.