Just spent about an hour wandering around the web searching for High Fructose Corn Syrup and Glucose-Fructose. I think they are the same thing.
Any books I've read talk about HFCS -- for example: You on a Diet -- being something to avoid; but I can't find any food labels that contain it in Canada. I can't believe we aren't being bombarded by it up here, too. After my web search, I think that HFCS is labelled as Glucose-Fructose in Canada. Does anybody know this for sure?
Actually, more to the direct point, would someone in the US please tell me what is listed on a Cool Whip container -- mine says it has Corn Syrup and Fructose as two separate things -- but my guess is that is just another way of describing HFCS.
That would pretty well confirm it . . . Wow do you ever have a vast array of Cool Whip products . . . we have regular and light.
For my next stupid question . . . Is regular corn syrup as bad for you as HFCS? Any idea what the difference actually is? Sounds like they add Fructose to the corn syrup . . . kind of overkill, don't you think?
BTW, the new avatar is the Jan. 1 page of my new desk calendar . . . I could not resist . . . there is also a caption on the page that I didn't upload . . . "It's a brand-new year -- try not to mess it up!"
HFCS is cornsyrup treated with special enzymes to increase the % of fructose in the syrup - this makes it sweeter and more soluble so it is easier to ship and use by processed food manufacturers.
Here is the best explanation I have every seen on High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and how the body responds to it. It is from The Great American Detox Diet by Alex Jamieson (Morgan Spurlock's girlfriend of "Super Size Me"). Bear with me - this is so good , it is a l-o-n-g quote
Recent reports ib\n the media have stated that Americans have been eating less white refined sugar in the past 2 decades, down to 63.2 pounds per person per year in 2002. That's still a lot of sugar! This reduction in cane sugar consumption doesn't mean we're eating less sugar - now we are just getting it in another form. In the early 1980s, food companies began to use a form of sugar known as high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS in their products. The reason? HFCS is significantly cheaper than cane sugar and saves the food industry tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars a year. USDA studies show an increase in consumption by 250 percent over the last 15 years. Some studies show that the average American kid consumes up to 20 percent of his daily calories from HFCS alone. In the early 1960s, the average American consumed no HFCS. By 2002 the average American was consuming 62.8 pounds of HFCS a year! In less than one generation, we've become hooked on this dangerous druglike sweetener that effectively has doubled our intake of sugar additives.
Why is this corn-derived sweetener so ubiquitous and so inexpensive? It's a matter of politics. The federal government began offering subsidies to corn growers in the 1970s. This created a huge amount of dirt-cheap corn that was turned into a sweetener that is much cheaper than sugar. And if it is cheaper, it is what the food giants want.
HFCS is so cheap to produce that it has replaced cane sugar in almost every processed food we eat: sodas, juices, candies, pasta sauces, ketchup, cookies, syrups, yogurts, soups, salald dressings, breakfast cereals - even baby formula.
... In the early 1980s, whe HFCS became commonplace in food products, a once-stable obesity level in this country began to spike, and it has been soaring ever since. How can there not be a connection
So, how does the body react to HFCS? This passage is what really drove it home for me and, in 2003, made me throw away and replace everything in my home that had HFCS. I was amazed at the products that had it.
HFCS, however, appears to affect our bodies differently than sugars that convert right to glucose, behaving more like fat than sugar when it hits our bloodstreams. With fructose, there is no spike in blood sugar, and there is also no signaling to our bodies that we have been adequately fed. This is one of the potentially scary attributes of foods laced with HFCS, and it has researchers very concerned. Since HFCS doesn't appear to signal to our bodies that we've taken in calories, we tend to eat more foods laden with these than we should. In essence, when we eat foods high in HFCS, our bodies are essentially tricked into wanting to eat more, and at the same time our bodies are processing this sugar in ways that prompt them to store more fat **Emphasis is mine** This is part of the reason many experts believe our rising consumption of HFCS is a major contributor to the current obesity process.
Pretty scary stuff. I hope that now that FDA and food manufacturers have a handle on how much we care about getting trans fats out of our food supply, will now get the message about HFCS!!
I agree with you completely. The FDA really needs to get the word out about HFCS. I've been trying to get rid of all of my HFCS but it really is in so many things! I knew that it was so widely used because it was cheap, but I didn't know why it was so cheap. Thanks for all the great information! I've heard they're looking to corn and sugar to make a more environmentally safe form of fuel. Let's hope they find a way so they can start using it for something beneficial instead of adding to our growing obesity epidemic.
I am currently reading Marion Nestle's "What to Eat?" (a GREAT book, by the way) -- and she said the FDA, under influence of the sugar industry, has toned down their warning over time on the harms of sugars and HFCS (it's interesting reading the dietary guidelines over time -- ranging "Avoid too much sugar" in the early years to a current "it is best to moderate your sugar intake (insert jargon)". heh.
With fructose, there is no spike in blood sugar, and there is also no signaling to our bodies that we have been adequately fed. This is one of the potentially scary attributes of foods laced with HFCS, and it has researchers very concerned. Since HFCS doesn't appear to signal to our bodies that we've taken in calories, we tend to eat more foods laden with these than we should. In essence, when we eat foods high in HFCS, our bodies are essentially tricked into wanting to eat more, and at the same time our bodies are processing this sugar in ways that prompt them to store more fat **Emphasis is mine**
Good lord!! That is scary stuff!! I have to tell you, one of the things that I did in the past was go to OA where I learned a lot of people lacked the ability to tell when they were truely hungry and truely full.
I always thought I was one of them. I was until I started this new whole foods lifestyle. Reading this I don't think it's any coincidence that I could never stop eating before with all the junk I had and now I have no problem. I eat no processed foods and I know when i'm full. Thanks for the information!
Dumb Question Re: Hfcs
I have to tell you, one of the things that I did in the past was go to OA where I learned a lot of people lacked the ability to tell when they were truely hungry and truely full. 
