High Fructose Corn Syrup

[Alex Linder]

Another bit of HFCS Truth
Posted by Wilton Alston at 12:13 PM

Every time I see one of those commercials about how high-fructose corn syrup is "made from corn and fine in moderation" I get a little upset. I'm not upset because what the commercial claims is untrue, although it is misleading. I'm not upset at the moxie of the corn lobby. People selling stuff are supposed to, well, try to sell their stuff.

I get upset because the only reason HFCS is so prevalent in the U.S. diet is because sugar tariffs and taxes make it cost effective. Put HFCS, or any other pseudo-natural sweetener on equal market footing with sugar and guess what? No one would buy the stuff. The fact that it might be okay in moderation--and I agree with Dr. Oz that it's not--is therefore a secondary issue at best.

From whence do these tariffs arise and who do they benefit? The tariffs benefit companies that make HFCS, companies like ADM. It works like this: ADM lobbies Congress. Congress places tariffs on sugar. ADM sells HFCS to Coca Cola. ADM and Coke get fat, owing directly to corporate welfare. Everybody else gets fat on the made-from-corn sweetener that no one would otherwise use.

Nice racket.

[BryanVP]

Did you hear about how Stevia was outlawed as a sweetener for several years? Because it's much healthier than products that can be damaging like sugar, HFCS, aspartame, etc, etc.

It ended up getting legalized as a health food suppliment, which spiked the price of it for several years. It was because of an anonymous complaint the corrupt FDA outlawed it. I'd venture to say it was the Sugar Food Corporation or some related company that the jews have their hands in the pockets of, that made the anonymous complaint.

Countless consumers praise Stevia as being beneficial health-wise. Some scientists have made the same reports about it treating/curing high blood pressure, obesity, sleep apnea, and probably other ailments. In late 2008 the FDA finally lifted their ban on it, but so far as I know it's still not being distrubuted as a sweetener, only a supplement.

This is something I haven't tried myself, but I've read about and seen a few videos of. Stevia blended in water, supposedly seperates all the toxins in public tap water to the top in a soapy, scuzzy type residue. If you leave it alone, the soapy material will mix back into the water in a few minutes. If you seperate the water and the soap. The water is pure h2o, and the soap will unfoam and go to liquid again, but it's nasty, and polluted-looking.

Like I said I haven't tried it myself yet, but it seems interesting enough I'm going to order some stevia and give it a try.

[Bardamu]

Stevia blended in water, supposedly seperates all the toxins in public tap water to the top in a soapy, scuzzy type residue. If you leave it alone, the soapy material will mix back into the water in a few minutes. If you seperate the water and the soap. The water is pure h2o, and the soap will unfoam and go to liquid again, but it's nasty, and polluted-looking.



I'd be surprised if this were true.

Anyone interested in the politics of high fructose corn syrup should read The Omnivore's Dilemma.

[KMRATHELL]

Chemically, corn syrup's sugar is fructose, a simple sugar. Sugar cane and sugar beets produce a complex sugar. All have to be converted in the human body to another simple sugar, glucose. About 70 percent of our complex sugars come from the cane in the US and about 30 percent from sugar beets, which are mostly produced in the northern tiers of the US.

If the U.S. lifted its embargo on trade with Cuba, barring huge tariffs, sugar prices would drop like a rock, regardless of which plant is used to produce these sweetening products.

[OTPTT]

I posted this in another thread but it's worth repeating.

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html)

MONDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.

HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages and foods such as breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS, but teens and other high consumers can take in 80 percent more HFCS than average.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply," the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author of both studies, said in a prepared statement.

In the first study, published in current issue of Environmental Health, researchers found detectable levels of mercury in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS.

And in the second study, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a non-profit watchdog group, found that nearly one in three of 55 brand-name foods contained mercury. The chemical was found most commonly in HFCS-containing dairy products, dressings and condiments.

But an organization representing the refiners is disputing the results published in Environmental Health.
"This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance," said Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, in a statement. "Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years. These mercury-free re-agents perform important functions, including adjusting pH balances."

However, the IATP told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that four plants in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia still use "mercury-cell" technology that can lead to contamination.

IATP's Ben Lilliston also told HealthDay that the Environmental Health findings were based on information gathered by the FDA in 2005.

And the group's own study, while not peer-reviewed, was based on products "bought off the shelf in the autumn of 2008," Lilliston added.

The use of mercury-contaminated caustic soda in the production of HFCS is common. The contamination occurs when mercury cells are used to produce caustic soda.

"The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury. The good news is that mercury-free HFCS ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients," Wallinga said in his prepared statement.

More information

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry has more about mercury and health (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mercury/).
SOURCE: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, news release, Jan. 26, 2009

[Kievsky]

Look at the bloated 9 year olds in the supermarkets, with their mothers filling the cart with packaged foods. What you don't see is the diabetes insulin pump attachment in the kid's abdomen, but quite often it's there. I'm pretty sure HFCS causes diabetes, and i don't need more proof to avoid it.

I got another gardening video in the works. Will be posting it on podblanc and I'll link it here on VNN. That's the best way to avoid junk food, grow your own stuff. And if you have children, grown sugar snap peas and sun gold cherry tomatoes. These two varieties will give your kid an awesome sugar rush right out of the garden, and you don't have to do any dishes. Just take the kid to the garden and say, "OK kid, there's breakfast. Start grazing."

[George Witzgall]

YouTube - High-Fructose Corn Syrup Ad 1

YouTube - High-Fructose Corn Syrup Spoof

[Kind Lampshade Maker]

...If the U.S. lifted its embargo on trade with Cuba, barring huge tariffs, sugar prices would drop like a rock, regardless of which plant is used to produce these sweetening products.So would the price of vintage cars

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