Is high-fructose corn syrup really worse than sugar?

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  Posted by DeAnn Thu Sep 11, 2008 3:02pm PDT

  The thing about HFCS is it bonds to the "sweet" receptors ten times stronger than sucrose, regular table sugar. I don't remember the actual table (I sold back almost all of my college textbooks - Biology is expensive!), but it's probably online somwhere. Fructose is the sweetest natural sugar out there.

  What happens with HFCS's is companies can buy them for relatively cheap and use LESS of it than acutal sugar to make things as sweet as they are. This was a revolution in the breakfast ceral industry, as the competition for sweet, sugary products heated up, this provided a way to keep costs down, keep the sweetness, and maximize profit.

  Well, we now regulate breakfast cereals because we realized they were downright bad for us. But the legacy continues. It's just smart business to use HFCS instead of sugars because you use less of it to make it much sweeter than you could otherwise.

  Now, the problem may be that this trigger works on the pleasure center in the brain and ultimately feeds an addiction to sweet. People really should avoid it like the plague and train their brains to taste natural sweet and less sweet tastes than the artificial sweeteners.

  By the by, did you know the stuff that makes aspertame sweeteners (NutraSweet, Equal, etc) is actually an amino acid? Yup, for some reason it binds to sugar receptors.

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  Posted by Alex Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:21pm PDT

  Yes, it is worse than sugar. And I don't agree that a sugar is a sugar. I don't know if it's the enzymatic process or what but it tastes different and it has gotten to the point where we are so used to the overtly sweet products that when we travel to other countries, we think it's not sweet enough!

  I don't know if you have ever had a coke product from Mexico. They use real sugar in their soft drinks and they are way tastier. The bad thing about hfcs is that it is in the most unimaginable places. Why would anyone put hfcs in bread? Really. This is just another way for these industries to lure us back so that they can continue to turn a profit while feeding us garbage.

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  Posted by mike d Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:22pm PDT

  Sooooooo, the moral of the story it...quit eating so much sugar.

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  Posted by Isky Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:57pm PDT

  I avoid HFCS because it's politically correct to do so. Yes, I know companies who use this sweetener claim that it's no different than sugar, but they are feeding us too much sweetness, and just for profit! Aside from my comments above, can anyone tell me why I find white corn at the supermarkets, but cannot find any fresh yellow corn? Is all the yellow corn being used to produce HFCS?

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  Posted by WilliamM Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:39am PDT

  And as if what DeAnn mentions isn't bad enough, salt gets added in quantity to just about everything containing HFCS, to neutralize some of the cloy. So now we also have high sodium content in processed foods, with sodium being a major contributor to hypertension...

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  Posted by Nini Poo Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:56am PDT

  Those commercials are BS. They say that HFCS is fine in moderation and it's the same as sugar.... well if HFCS wasn't in EVERYTHING you can purchase at the grocery store maybe we COULD actually eat it in moderation. Go vegetarian!!! and get rid of the processed foods!! Read Skinny b---- , it will open your eyes!!

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  Posted by Rowdygirl Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:20am PDT

  The commercials are made from the viewpoint of the Corn Refiners Association, so it makes sense that they would promote this as a "healthy choice". I try to avoid HFCS whenever I can,(Splenda is my sweetner of choice) but it's increasing difficult since it seems to be in almost everything. It's even hard to find a whole grain loaf of bread without it.

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  Posted by Disgruntled Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:14am PDT

  Very interesting article. I'd seen the ads and also heard my mother and sister preaching at me about the horrors of HFCS. I have been curious as to why HFCS is so bad.

  I really don't know much about the science of the whole thing but I'd think that the main reason obesity is skyrocketing in America has more to do with the fact that we eat more processed foods, more sweets and in larger portions than we used to. I remember when bottles of soda were 16 oz. and they were considered a lot of soda. Now they're 20 oz. and people treat them as a single serving. When I was a kid, soda was a rare treat. Now kids drink it every day. Yes, HFCS is part of the problem since it seems to be in everything, but I think our eating habits are the real issue.

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  Posted by badgerdog Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:04am PDT

  Ahh, DeAnn, you took the words right out of my mouth! My point on HFCS exactly. Also, as some other commenters pointed out, one of the main problems with this is that it is in EVERYTIHING. As an example, why should Lasagne have HFCS in it? Why should Breads, crackers, etc. etc. etc. The list is endless! Sugars used to be a "luxury" item, a treat, only trotted out on special occasions. Now we can't get away from it. If you could really just have it "in moderation" or as a "treat", it would probably be okay. However, it has permeated all our foods except whole, natural-state foods. We have become a society addicted to sugars and for what? There's no nutritional benefits, we are just addicted to the sweet taste. If you really want to do your body a favor, cut out all sugars.

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  Posted by badgerdog Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:16am PDT

  After going to the website and watching those commercials, I had to come back and make another comment. (Well, my first one hasn't even appeared yet, so maybe this will be my first comment, lol.)

  That website (www.sweetsurprise.com) disgusts me. It's sheer propaganda. They have the people saying "it's fine in moderation!" while offering fruit punch or a popcicle, but what they don't say it that it's also in the sandwich bread, the chips, the lunchmeat, the drinks and everything else at that little picnic and party!! What a disgusting snow job. Thanks, but no thanks. They are obviously banking on the public being "sheeple".

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