Let me start by saying that I don't avoid all foods with HFCS, however, I saw this commercial while I was working out and I nearly got ill...
This woman was pouring some sort of red-dyed "juice" concoction from a jug, and I swear I could feel my teeth rotting in my gums.
It really irritates me that they don't actually present any facts other than "HFCS is just sugar... made from corn!" Oversimplified propaganda nonsense.
And, yes, while I don't avoid all HFCS, it still sticks in my brain that corn is fed to cattle to fatten them up. (Even if I did give up HFCS, I'll never give up corn.)
I too will never give up corn in it's natural state, because I love it. HFCS is a no no though. I'm sure from time to time I eat it, but I refuse to drink anything that contains it and keep it away from my children the best I can...On PBS' show Independent Lens two college students followed corn production and processing by planting their own acre and then following it from harvest to the end. It was pretty interesting and eye opening...it can be found at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/
Oversimplified, condescending, and a completely logically flawed argument (you can't say "X is made from Y and Y is natural, so X must be good"...that is not a defensible position!)
I have the same reservations about the American Heart Association -- if you notice, their seal of approval is stamped on everything from Fruit Loops to grape juice with like 1000g's a sugar per serving.
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Originally Posted by yoyodieterinvegas
Well, I'm not sure how much faith I have in the FDA anyway. I mean, think about it, they'll approve something as a food additive for everybody to consume after a very brief testing period, but drugs for things like cancer and AIDS treatments have to go through extensive testing - for years and years while the people they might be able to help are dying anyway.
I won't buy stuff with HFCS in it because I really see no need to do so. I usually don't use things like ketchup, although I did buy the Whole Foods brand ketchup today ($1.69/bottle). I would rather if ketchup came without sugar. There was one brand that did have sugar free ketchup but it was twice the price. How come products WITHOUT stuff always cost more?
I don't know that HFCS has been proven to be any worse for you than refined table sugar. The problem is it's SOOOOO cheap they put it in anything and everything they can. Places where you wouldn't expect it. In large amounts.
A case has been made against eating "novel foods" as dietary staples since we don't know the long term reactions of our bodies to them. Or maybe we do (KOFF diet related epidemics KOFF). Since so many novel food additives are processed from corn, American's eat a HUGE amount of corn calories, most or at least alot of them not realizing it. That can't be good for us ...
I avoid it on the principal of the thing ... if it has HFCS in it it's probably processed to the point that it isn't food anymore. Like that scary liquid the HFCS mom was serving the kids.
I just use sugar now if I really want something sweet. I steal Sugar in the Raw packets from the coffee shop and keep them at work heh. If I REALLY REALLY want something sweet the small grocery next door carries Coke imported from Mexico, where it's made with cane sugar and comes in a glass bottle (YUM). I figure if I'm going to waste the calories why not on what I really want? Something sweet, not corn.
I just saw this commercial last night and almost fell off my chair! I posted about it in another forum before I realized there were people discussing it here.
I was shocked they're actually promoting HFCS! I realize it's not the sole cause of obesity and weight problems in America, but that's just like saying, "it's ok everyone, eat highly processed sugar - it's ok for you!" Before I started South Beach I didn't realize pretty much everything had sugar and HFCS in it. Cereal? Yep. Juice? Yep. Yogurt? Yep. DISGUSTING! I try very hard to buy organic and foods that don't contain it, but it gets very expensive. It's frustrating going to the store, buying 10 items and spending $50 because that's the only way to escape the revolting crap manufacturers put in our food. When I get a house one day, I'm totally growing a garden and making my own stuff!
And if I'm not mistaken, wasn't nicotine once promoted in the same "it's ok for you in moderation" manner? Look where that's gotten us!
Some nutrition experts blame increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose, increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream. But this hasn't been proved.
In addition, animal studies have shown a link between increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and adverse health effects, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. However, the evidence is not as clear in human studies.
Despite the lack of clarity in research, the fact remains that Americans consume large quantities of high-fructose corn syrup in the form of soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages and other processed foods. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutritional value. This fact alone is reason to be cautious about foods containing high-fructose corn syrup.
In a really well-balanced review of the recent commercials, Serious Eats says:
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...the Corn Refiners Association reminds consumers that they don't know a lot about the sweetener—they just know to hate it. ...
But as one Serious Eats reader points out on this recent talk thread on the issue, the campaign resembles former ones with cigarettes, where the nicotine sticks become "a healthy alternative to sweets."
What they especially note in this article is that even though the commercials and websites talk about eating HFCS "in moderation," they don't say what that is. Furthermore, as one commenter noted,
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The only thing that bothers me about these ads is the line "It's healthy in moderation."
It's kind of hard to eat something in moderation that is in nearly 90% of foods.
Amen!
There's another balanced article on HFCS at Eating Well. Basically they say that it's eating too much sugar that's the problem, not HFCS.
Another issue, for those of us that care about eating more natural foods and less processed foods, is that HFCS just isn't natural, which is well expressed by The Accidental Hedonist:
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It isn't natural. Oh, they may meet the letter of the law in defining itself as natural, but they haven not only broken its spirit, they stepped on it, jumped on it, and ground the law into dust. Unless a person has ready access to centrifuges, hydroclones, ion-exchange columns, and buckets of enzymes, there's simply no way for a regular lay person to make high fructose corn syrup. None. Zero. It's not natural, no matter how they dress it up.
Unlike table sugar, HFCS contains simple sugars that do not require further digestion to be absorbed by the human body. This contributes to the higher sweetness factor of HFCS.
Though this article at the Weston A. Price Foundation may be slightly biased against HFCS, it has a great description of how it's made...which seems a bit scary to me! They note:
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"The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."
There are different formulations of HFCS, but in the more commonly used one, HFCS-55, there's only 5% more fructose than in table sugar...so it's not necessarily that huge of a difference. Still, if one is eating it regularly, it could make a big difference over a lifetime...
I really trust the "About You" docs that run www.RealAge.com. They say this about HFCS:
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High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), used to sweeten everything from the obvious (soft drinks) to the obscure (ketchup, salad dressing, bread), can trip up digestive system hormones that control hunger and appetite. The end result: Your brain misses out on hormone messages that signal a full stomach. Start reading labels and see if you can cut back on the 63 pounds of HFCS most people consume each year.
Your digestive system has two main hormones that control hunger and appetite. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases your appetite. When your stomach's empty, it sends ghrelin out, requesting food. Leptin tells your brain that you're full. HFCS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you're full. And HFCS never shuts off ghrelin, so even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you're hungry.
63 pounds of HFCS a year? I'm not sure what moderation is, but that's definitely not it, eh?
A year ago, a study found a link between drinking sodas sweetened with HFCS and diabetes:
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A new study released Thursday suggests sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup may contribute to the development of diabetes. The study from researchers at Rutgers University, shows sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup contain high levels of compounds that previous research suggests may play a role in the development of diabetes. Especially when consumed in large amounts.
...One point where most scientists and doctors agree is that Americans are consuming too many calories, whether in the form of sodas, fatty foods, or sweets. "The bottom line, watch your total calorie intake, limit added sugars, whether it's in the form of high fructose corn syrup or table sugar and just eat a variety of healthy foods we know are good for us,? said Elisa Zied a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
They claim that there are many health benefits to high fructose corn syrup. Yes, believe it or not there is a complete website dedicated to making you believe that HFCS is your friend. They mention that it keeps food fresh, enhances fruit and spice flavors, retains moisture in bran cereals, helps keep breakfast and energy bars moist, enables baked goods to brown better and keeps ingredients evenly dispersed in condiments. Wow, this all sounds so great...
So I dug a little deeper and saw that these statements were backed up by a woman named Audrae Erickson. In an article she recently had published in The Wichita Eagle she reiterates the health benefits of HFCS as well as it's safety...I mean why would this woman have any alterior motives anyway. She's only the President of the US Corn Refinery Association. Ha!
So I did just that. I looked at the research, studied the findings and read through to find out who was actually funding these research studies. As it turns out and believe me, I was not surprised, I found that studies like these were quite often funded by grants given through companies like Pepsi. In addition, these findings are always supported by researchers and/or advisors that are connected to National Sugar Institutes, Corn Refinery Associations and HFCS producers like Archer Daniels Midland.
To be honest, before these commercials I didn't really pay that much attention to how much HFCS was in anything I ate. I don't drink calories, so I don't worry about pop, I try to stay as close to the real food as possible. You get the idea. But now because of these commercials I am paying more attention so I can stay away from the HFCS. They've lost money here. Whatever the product is, if it makes fun of me, or anyone else, for not getting/eating it then it isn't much of a product and should be shunned.
Oversimplified propaganda nonsense. 
