Americans eat 42 pounds of high fructose corn syrup annually

Derek Thompson at The Atlantic reblogged a visualization of America’s annual eating habits. According to Thompson’s graphic, besides almost 85 pounds of fat and oils and 110 pounds of red meat, the average American consumes about 42 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup annually. Forty-two pounds is the size of about six newborns, and pretty gross prima facie. But just how bad for you is it?

The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than six teaspoons of added sugar per day and that men consume no more than nine, which amounts to about 100 and 150 calories, respectively. Forty-two pounds is the equivalent of 3,865 teaspoons of corn syrup, or almost 11 per day. Nobody should be eating that much added sugar.

Exacerbating the problem is that high-fructose corn syrup has been shown to be worse than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain. Last year, researchers at Princeton University discovered that rats supplied with corn syrup got significantly fatter than rats fed regular sugar, even when caloric intake between the groups was the same. What makes that particularly frightening is how frequently food brands have begun using corn syrup in place of real sugar, which is more expensive. So while corporations are able to tighten their belts with corn syrup, America is forced to loosen its own.

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High fructose corn syrup by any other name would be just as sweet

If “the idea that HFCS is bad because it’s not natural is simply incorrect”, then why the tricky name change?

Fed up with the public’s misperception that consuming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is unhealthy, the corn industry launched a new ad campaign last year with a catchy tag line informing people that, when it comes to HFCS or regular sugar, “Your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.” In addition, the Corn Refiners Association, which produced the advertisements, began lobbying the FDA to grant it permission to rebrand HFCS as simply “corn sugar” — a move that will now be left up to the courts to decide after a group of sugar farmers filed a lawsuit contesting the name change.

Why all the HFCS controversy? Because, as Adam Fox, an attorney for the sugar industry contends, “It is not natural, it does not exist in nature. Sugar comes from cane and beet, HFCS requires advanced technology.”

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Corn Syrup Lawsuit Heads To Los Angeles Court

The setting sun splashes warm hues across a ripening cornfield as a man and his daughter wander through rows of towering plants.

Like any parent, the dad says in the television commercial, he was concerned about high fructose corn syrup. But medical and nutrition experts reassured him that in essence, it's the same as cane sugar.

"Your body can't tell the difference," he says. "Sugar is sugar."

That key claim, made last year by the corn industry as it tries to rebrand high fructose corn syrup as simply "corn sugar," was weighed for the first time by a federal judge Tuesday after a group of sugar farmers and refiners sued corn processors and a lobbying group.

Their lawsuit alleges the father-in-the-cornfield advertisement and other national television, print and online commercials from the corn industry amount to false advertising because sugar is not the same as high fructose corn syrup, the sweetening agent now found in the bulk of sodas and many processed foods.

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Food fight breaks out over “corn sugar”

Big Sugar is taking Big Corn to court over the name “corn sugar.” Representatives of U.S. sugar farmers and refiners claim that the corn industry’s use of the term constitutes false and misleading advertising. We agree that the name is confusing. But we also think that you should limit consumption of all added sugar, in any name or form.

The lawsuit comes after manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to change the ingredient’s name to “corn sugar” in 2010, and began promoting it as “corn sugar” in advertisements. They want to make the change largely because of the bad rep high-fructose corn syrup has received in recent years as being somehow less healthful than other forms of sugar, which has hurt its sales.

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Hidden sources of high fructose corn syrup in your groceries

The production of HFCS involves vats of murky fermenting liquid, various enzymes, fungus and chemical tweaking, all of which take place in one of 16 chemical plants located in the Corn Belt.

It is amazing how ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has become. Most of the products that you purchase from the grocery store contain HFCS, including the ones you would least expect.

It has the same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugars, so most people can't tell the difference. And since it tastes good they continue to eat it anyway, oblivious to what they are eating and the impact it may have on them, and the planet.

In spite of it being much more complicated to produce, HFCS is actually cheaper to make than regular sugar from beets or sugar canes. It's also very easy to transport, meaning lower costs and higher profits for food producers. That being said, there is a con to mass producing this cheap sugar.

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5 Surprising Foods in Your Kids' Diet that have High Fructose Corn Syrup

While there is some controversy over whether high fructose corn syrup is good or bad for you, I am a believer that it is more bad than good and I want to punch the television every time I see one of the ads that says it's just corn sugar. I can't say that it never enters the diet of family, but I sure as heck do my best to keep it out of our cabinets and refrigerator. However, I've found that often when I think I'm making a healthy choice for my family, manufacturers have figured out a way to sneak this ingredient into our kids' favorite healthy foods even when I least expect it. The following foods are some of the top offenders in my opinion and are ones that I always make sure I read the labels on to be sure they don't include this controversial ingredient.

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Restaurants Going High Fructose Corn Syrup Free

It’s all about taste he says. They’ve found that HFCS-free and organic foods just taste better.

Remember the early days of culinary-profiling when sugar was Public Enemy Number One and mom quaffed diet soda until the world went sour on saccharine? The next victim was fat. We feasted on fat-free everything and gorged on pasta. Then carbohydrates were demonized. Atkins slimmed us on red meat, bacon and high-fat diets, but we craved carbs and felt like we puffed-up like blowfish the second we ate them. Processed foods were the next root-of-all-evil. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) quickly joined them in the crosshairs, creating the latest, easy-way-out, feel-good, target-rich environment for those looking for the (next) root cause of obesity. HFCS is in everything! Get rid of it, say opponents, and replace it...with sugar. Aaah, the cycle of life.

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Post Raisin Bran Gets Rid of the High Fructose Corn Syrup and Makes My Day

Raisin Bran is my favorite cereal. High fructose corn syrup used to be in both brand name products, but Post has been my favorite brand of raisin bran since the day I read the labels and discovered Kellogg's product is made in Mexico these days, not in Battle Creek, Michigan. Post makes theirs in St. Louis, Missouri.

I'd been out of raisin bran for a while, but today was Wal-Mart day. When the big purple Post Raisin Bran box jumped off the shelf and into my hand, imagine my amazement at seeing a new blue banner splashed across the front:

Contains NO HIGH FRUCTOSE Corn syrup

unlike Kellogg's® Raisin Bran

Now, there's some likeable advertising, telling you what you need to know and sticking it right in the competition's face. You go, Post!

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High fructose corn syrup may boost risk of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease

Drinks or foods with high fructose corn syrup may increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, according to a new animal study.

The study by A. Sheludiakova of University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia and colleagues found rats drinking sugary beverages got more abdominal fat, higher levels of triglycerides, and developed impaired insulin/glucose homeostasis, compared to those drinking water, even though the former did not gain more weight than the latter.

The researchers gave Male Hooded Wister rats free access to a drink with 10 percent sucrose or a 10 percent fructose/glucose (50/50) drink or water as controls in addition to a normal diet for 56 days, which is equivalent to four years for humans. Wister rats live an average of 3.1 years.

At the end of the dietary intervention, they measured metabolic parameters including triglycerides in the blood, liver triglycerides, abdominal fat, and oral glucose tolerance.

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Sweet Revenge, Chefs Pour on the Sugar

Matt Gordon, the chef and owner of Urban Solace, a modern-American restaurant in San Diego, spent months of work and $15,000 making sure the restaurant's sodas, cocktail mixers, ice cream and sauces all contained the same ingredient: sugar.

A growing number of restaurants across the country are retooling recipes to replace ingredients containing high-fructose corn syrup with other sweeteners including honey, agave nectar, golden syrup and palm sugar.

Mr. Gordon's restaurant, Jason's Deli, a 228-unit chain of casual restaurants; Lukshon, a high-end Asian restaurant in Los Angeles, and Guanajuato, a Mexican restaurant in Glencoe, Ill., have spent months or even years sourcing alternatives or demanding that their suppliers reformulate products to replace high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, with sugar.

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