How do you turn high fructose corn syrup into a healthy and fresh new
harmless corn sugar? You rename it. The corn refiners recently launched a new
campaign to rename the one single ‘food’ that Americans consume more than any
other food calorie, high fructose corn syrup. With consumption of high fructose
corn syrup at a twenty year low, the corn industry is looking for a hail Mary in
an attempt to save its highly profitable ingredient (Archer Daniels Midland, one
of the world’s top producers had 2009 revenues topping $69 billion).
Corn
Sugar - doesn’t this sound harmless, unprocessed and natural? In fact the corn
industry has already started marketing with this term by creating a new website
and has commercials saying, “High fructose corn syrup HFCS -- corn sugar -- has
been used in the food supply for more than forty years to make high fiber foods
palatable, maintain freshness and enhance flavors in foods and beverages.
Additionally, high fructose corn syrup keeps our foods affordable." Audrae
Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, says that the new name would
help people understand the sweetener. Really?
I am not sure how renaming
this product will help people better understand it. Instead the industry should
take the time to educate people on the difference between HFCS and sugar. Both
compounds contain two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. The difference
between these two compounds is that sucrose is 50% fructose and 50% glucose.
HFCS is made up of 55% fructose, 42% glucose and the remaining 3% are higher
saccharides, larger sugar molecules. The fructose in HFCS is more easily
absorbed and utilized because it is free and unbound (in sucrose, every fructose
is bound to a glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step
before it can be utilized in the body). When fructose is quickly absorbed and
metabolized, it is done independent of insulin. Though this may sound like a
good thing, it is not. If insulin is not signaled and released then leptin is
not signaled and released (a key signaling hormone that regulates food intake
and body weight). When this signaling system is bypassed, the body will continue
to crave food. Studies have shown that beverages with added sweeteners may
enhance caloric overconsumption, which makes
Weight Loss harder to
achieve.
The industry should offer statistics on the amount of HFCS
people consume and its availability:
- On average, Americans consume 60
pounds of HFCS per person per year.
- HFCS accounts for 40% of caloric
sweeteners in the United States.
- The consumption of HFCS increased more
than 1000% between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding the changes in intake of any
other food or food group.
- The increased use of HFCS in the United States
mirrors the rapid increase in obesity.
Instead of starting a new site and
using the name corn sugar (prior to approval by the FDA) they should start a
site that talks about recent studies published on HFCS. Until now, the majority
of studies have been short term studies and the results have been mixed. A new
study from Princeton researchers published in February 2010 looked at both short
term and long term affects of HFCS on body weight, body fat and triglycerides.
The study showed that over the course of 6-7 months mice that had 24 access to
an 8% HFCS “drink” and mice chow gained significantly more body weight
(specifically adipose fat in the abdominal region) and had elevated triglyceride
levels. Previous studies from Princeton has firmly established that if you give
rats access to a 10% table sugar "drink" in addition to their normal feed (mice
chow), they do not gain additional fat. In other words, their bodies are able to
metabolize the extra calories without creating more weight.
The take home
message? Sucrose is not ‘better’ than HFCS, other than it is natural and we can
metabolize it. If
weight Loss
is your goal, keep all natural sugar intake to a minimum and remove every bit of
HFCS from their diet. Limit the intake of natural sweeteners like honey, agave
nectar and real maple syrup.
How to Spot Added Sugar on Food
Labels
Sugar is easy to spot on an ingredient label. Look for words
ending in ‘ose’ (flucose, fructose, lactose), this indicates sugar. The
following terms also indicate added sugar:
- white sugar
- brown
sugar
- icing sugar
- invert sugar
- corn syrup
- high fructose corn
syrup
- maple syrup
- honey
- molasses
- brown rice syrup
- cane
juice
- evaporated cane juice
- all fruit juice concentrates, including
apple and pear
Seattle
Nutritionist Angela Pifer has been writing professionally since 2005, with
her work published on MSN Health and Kashi.com. Pifer creates custom
Seattle Weight Loss programs in
her private practice with offices in Bellevue and Seattle, WA. Pifer holds
Masters of Science in nutrition from Bastyr University.