"Scientists see little dietary benefit in food companies’ scramble to swap out processed sweeteners for natural ones" quote from Chicago Tribune.
It looks like the food manufacturers are giving in to all the bad media coverage of high fructose corn syrup. It appears their sales must be dropping for them to switch their formulas from using high fructose corn syrup to regular sugar.
Does this solve the problem though?
Not at all!!!
You see 5-10 years from now we will still have millions overweight and some advocate group will blame the food manufacturers for using sugar in their products.
Never mind that 5-10 years earlier their were blaming HFCS in foods for the obesity problem. They will somehow forget about that.
When are we going to blame the individual?
Last time I was at the grocery store I don’t remember any food manufacturer putting their foods in my cart. I distinctly remember going through the checkout lane and paying for the foods that I put in my cart all by myself. Ok, my daughter Hailey may have put in a few things into the cart, but you get my point.
This article in the Chicago Tribune I think is pretty darn accurate.
HFCS is not good for us. If we eat too much of it yes it can lead to weight problems, but so can sugar. All they are doing is replacing one bad ingredient for another bad ingredient.
It is up to the consumer to make a choice in regards to what they are going to put in their mouth.
We already know the food manufacturers are going to do what they can to sell more foods and convince you to buy their foods.
It is up to you to say yes or no.
I want to hear what you think about this topic and who is to blame. Who should step up and take responsiblity?
Let me hear your thoughts.
Yours in health,
Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS
America’s Trusted Weight Loss Expert
Chicago Tribune Resource:
Natural Sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup
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Research on the topic is interesting. Apparently, fructose is better (less harmful) than sucrose, for up to about 50 g/day. Used chronically above that level, it’s worse.
However, high fructose corn syrup has about the same percentage of fructose and glucose as sucrose or honey: HFCS is typically 42% or 55% fructose, sucrose is 50%, honey is 49%.
My sentiments exactly. We are responsible for what goes into our bodies not the manufacturers. When someone intentionally injests a poisonous substance or abuse drugs, do we blame the manufacturers? We decide what goes into our bodies. It’s that simple.
Keep the interesting articles coming. Love them.
Rosemarie
As long as we blame others we will never get to the root of the problem. I laugh a at all of these “organic” this and “macrobiotic” that. Naturally made foods from home will never do you wrong. My mother made all our meals and we never got fat, and we ate all the ethnic goodies people try to say is “bad” for us today. And yet somehow an Atking bar with 1000 ingredients is good? Please. make your lunch, serve it on a plate that isn’t 12-inches in diameter and WATCH how healthy you will become!
I agree with this completely. We do need to take responsibility for our own
actions. Unfortunately, We Americans like to play the blame game. We blame
the government for where we are economically, We blame food manufacturers
for us being fat, and We blame others for us not being happy. All of us need to
take responsibility for our own happiness, be it health, money, or whatever else.
Step up America and make this country the greatest that We can. I know We
can do it.
Jayson, how refreshing! A voice of common sense in a world of self indulgence. Grin. The main reason after all of those months I decided to give your plan a chance was because you didn’t lie to me. You just told it like it was and it made sense.
If we break things down to their simpler form and eat those, then we always know what we are ingesting. Like Mari Costa said above, take fresh good quality food and cook it yourself and you’ll be healthy. Just don’t overeat on it like I did and end up fat! LOL!
Great article Jayson. I don’t know if anyone saw Dr. Oz talking about HFC but
he also touched on overuse of sugar by showing how many spoons were in cola.
When he talked about how long it takes to break down the HFC, that’s what made
a difference for me. I just try to limit any intake and read labels. The more
info we seem to have as a public the less responsibility we seem to want to take
and it’s a shame. Like you said, it’s up to you on whether or not you put something
in the cart that contains 40 ingredients or 4. Keep it simple and save treats for
literally once in a while and there isn’t a problem. I just wish I’d known that b4
I gained all the weight I need to lose now
Is Stevia considered “unnatural?” Is Stevia in short supply?
I’ve noticed that an artificial sweetener made from Stevia is now available at my local supermarket … a bit “pricey” but nonetheless available.
Why can’t the food product producers switching back from HFCS to sugar go to Stevia instead?
Great Article
We are the ones buying it, children do not drive to Mc Donalds.
It is time people take responsibility for their actions and set examples for
their children.
While I generally agree with what you have said, you seem to have forgotten that one has to have the knowledge to know about what you are getting in your food.
I only recently found out that MSG was addictive and that Food Industry knew this when they started adding it to their products.
I never heard of High Fructose Corn Syrup until last year. In Canada the label shows “fructose-glucose” and if you don’t know that, then you would assume the item was free of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Just the other day I was listening to a radio report stating that food companies, restaurants (fast-food and otherwise) actually hire consultants to come in and help them get the proper proportion of salt, fat, & sugar in their products as it has been discovered that the proper proportions keep people coming back for more and eating too much because of it’s direct and immediate effect on the pleasure centre of the brain. One doctor went so far as to say that a person’s willpower doesn’t have a chance!!
Last year I found out that there is a company in the US that has developed a product that will make anything taste great because of its effect on our taste buds. Better still the amount is so small that it doesn’t have to be shown on the list of ingredients as it falls under “flavouring”. One acticle said we could be eating “dirty kitty litter” and think it tasted great!!
I am also concerned about what long term damage this product could do to our taste buds. It has only recently been invented and so there is no way that they can say for sure that it will not permanently damage our taste buds. I also strongly suspect that it’s a GMO!! According to my reading they already have contracts with several of the main Food Companies, so we may already be getting this stuff in some of our food!!
I would love to see a class-action suit against the Food Industry for being one of the major deliberate causes of the Obesity Epidemic we now have!!!!!
Needless to say, I rarely buy anything that comes in a can or package. I try to stay away from the grocery aisles and just shop around the edges of the grocery store. I buy fresh or frozen veggies and fruit and plain fresh meat. I do have to confess that I do occasionally buy sausages and bacon (I try to find without nitrates) and a package of Schneiders Bologna — but very rarely!
I can’t wait to see the film “FOOD” to find out what other secrets have been discovered. I have not heard of any lawsuits against the makers of the film so must conclude that whatever they are telling/showing us is true.
I wish that there was money available for a massive long-term campaign (television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines, and public transit) letting everyone know what they may be eating even it they would rather not know.
I would also love to have any and all products that contain any GMO’s clearly labelled as containing such.
In Canada the labelling is voluntary, so you know that food producers won’t label things as they know their products would stay on the shelves.
In the US, the USDA has forbidden the labelling of any products containing GMO’s that are sold in the US.
HFCS is cheaper than sugar, so producers must be running scared to make the change- maybe something to do with the recent news that HFCS typically contains high values of Mercury?
HFCS is included in in an incredible range of products, often under another name, making it hard to pick out. Usually, the more processed a “food” is, the more ingredients, so just say NO to this rubbish and go as natural/fresh as possible- it is estimated that American kids eat and drink 62 POUNDS of HFCS per year (it’s everywhere!)
I found a natural product called Stevia (sweet herb) that I now use instead of sugar if I need it in coffee.
You’re exactly right Jayson. It took many years of rationalization to come to the conclusion that my obesity was MY fault. I chose what I put in the food cart and I chose what I shoved into MY pie hole! Nobody MADE me do it. The sugar or HFCS police didn’t MAKE me buy their products.
I used to think that if it had HFCS in it , it was better for me than if it had sugar in it. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!! Thanks Jayson for continuing to point these things out. Steve Warren, Ohio
I agree with you…to an extent. Yes we are responsible for what we put in our shopping carts. But the food manufacturers are responsible for what goes into their products. At my grocery at least, it is very difficult to find a variety of foods without a lot of extras like sugar or HFCS added. Heck I was looking at frozen vegetables the other day and even some of them had weird ingredients I didn’t recognize added to them.
I had an eye opening experience when my daughter went through a home ec. class at her high school recently. They were taught to make virtually everything from a box. Even things like tuna and chicken salad which are so easy to make from scratch. My daughter (who can be a bit feisty) finally asked the teacher if she knew how to cook
The point is that a lot of people think that mixing up a batch of hamburger helper or adding chicken to a pre-made veggie stir-fry kit is cooking. It’s not. And unless you have the budget and know how to cook using real food it is near impossible to avoid all of those harmful food additives.
Finally, I want to say that even though I’m a decent cook I don’t always have the time to do it. There are days when something off the shelf or – heaven help me – the drive-thru has to do. So it would be nice if the food manufacturers offered a bit more variety of wholesome, additive free foods for me to choose from.
Maria
You’re right on, Jayson. The biggest problem with HFCS is its name. It’s not high in fructose, but named that to differentiate it from regular corn syrup which is mainly glucose.
It’s funny that the anti-HFCS groups think that replacing HFCS with cane sugar will help the obesity problem. The fact is that, calorie-for-calorie, HFCS is sweeter than sugar and replacing HFCS with sugar will increase the calorie content of the soft drink as it takes more sugar to give the same sweetness. Coke sweetened with sugar = 150 Calories/12 oz, 10 more calories than HFCS sweetened (140 Calories) or 7% more calories).
But when you have unlimited refills at the soda machine at the fast food restaurant, you’re gonna have a problem no matter which sweetener is used as Americans won’t take personal responsibility for their irresponsible behaviors.
I agree completely. Too many calories is too many calories no matter where they come from. Moderation in all things is the key to successful weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.
Great post Jason! I recently had my son grab the honey and drank a little. Noticed he had maintable sugar balance then HFCS.