I saw this on TV last night, it’s alarming. The Corn Refiners Association decided to ’show’ high-fructose corn syrup was as safe as sugar. This is interesting because I just wrote a post last week about how HFCS makes you fat. I did this after finding a bunch of research that said that the body converts fructose to body fat with “surprising speed.”
I suppose The Corn Refiners Association is trying to counteract these new findings. Take note that they showed a lotta-pop as the safe source of sugar. Incredible.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is not good for you.
“Wow, you don’t care what the kids eat, huh?”
These commercials are a ridiculous lie. They remind me of the old cigarette spots that tried to refute claims that cigarettes where unhealthy. (I’m not old enough to actually remember those commercials, I heard about them on Mad Men.) It looks like these guys are getting really nervous and grappling for anything to keep people buying this stuff. Next they’re going to tell us corn makes better gas.
Read the labels and continue to stay away from foods that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. Don’t smoke either.
Update: September 10th
So I was looking around the site and noticed a High Fructose Corn Syrup ad running on the site. I clicked it and its the Corn Refiners. It seems they’ve put up a website and are advertising that as well.
“What Does Scientific Research Really Say About HFCS?”
Give their site a look and post some comments here. I’m interested to see what you think.
HFCS is Bad for You and Bad for the Planet
“The environmental footprint of HFCS is deep and wide,” writes Pollan, a prominent critic of industrial agriculture. “Look no farther than the dead zone in the Gulf [of Mexico], an area the size of New Jersey where virtually nothing will live because it has been starved of oxygen by the fertilizer runoff coming down the Mississippi from the Corn Belt. Then there is the atrazine in the water in farm country — a nasty herbicide that, at concentrations as little as 0.1 part per billion, has been shown to turn male frogs into hermaphrodites.”
Milling and chemically altering corn to form high-fructose corn syrup also is energy-intensive. That’s not to say that corn is evil and other foods aren’t; all crops require energy to grow and transport. What makes corn a target is that federal subsidies — and tariffs on imported sugar — keep prices low, paving the way for widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup and, in the process, keeping the American palate accustomed to the sweetness it provides.
Corn is a useful crop with high yields, although it uses more fertilizers and insecticides and causes more soil erosion than other crops, according to David Pimentel, a professor in Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
From the Washington Post
That’s what the Washington Post had to say. Look around for some research and make your own decisions about the safety of this stuff.
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Yeah, I have seen one of these commercials too and I was really surprised. They make it seem like HFCS is actually good for you.
you’ve got to be kidding me?! this is INSANE!!!
It’s too little too late. They will never recover from the impending consumer outrage when people really do get the facts about how unhealthy corn syrup is – in the quantities that are being eaten by the average person each day.
It is fine in moderation, that’s true. But you really have to watch everything you buy in order to make sure you are actually eating it in moderation.
Paul-
Good point. It is in pretty much everything that comes in a wrapper or a can.
-James
Yup, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid HFCS and I can feel the improvement. Much less lethargic and don’t crave sodas. In fact, I still drink a soda every now and then but only ones with natural ingredients and pure cane sugar. They are actually much tastier than Coke and the rest of HFCS cabal.
I’m surprised the American Diabetic Association isn’t airing commercials against these to let American’s know how harmful HFCS really is. When I saw one of these commercials for the first time I wanted to scream!
Their arguments:
Made from corn (heroin is made from a plant too corn is a plant)
No artificial ingredients (it’s genetically modified corn, the bacteria and chemicals and pesticides which are used to make it are all natural??? Well, they come from the earth.)
Same calories as regular sugar (means nothing. Carbs=4 Protein=4 Alcohol=7 Fat=9 calories/gram. Are they just saying “Hey it’s not a fat.” to a person watching the TV ad drinking a beer and eating a hamburger, as if they care or even know about calories.)
Okay in moderation. (that applies to just about everything, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. the problem is with most people getting HFCS in half or more of what they eat, you can’t get it in moderation. That one glass of stuff she’s pouring probably has like 25 grams=100 calories=5% daily calories. good luck on the moderation)