To eat or not to eat HFCS. That is the question.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/132495.html

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The issue with HFCS is that you never feel full when you are eating it. This is why since the early 80s, we have seen soda products increasing to sizes never before considered. Growing up, I was told that my dad\'s best friend\'s stepmom would have cases of Tab delivered to their house. Clearly, in the 60s, Tab wasn\'t made with HFCS or aspertame, which has similar evil qualities. So if someone is going to abuse a product, it won\'t matter whether it has sugar or HFCS or any other material in it. That being said, for nearly 30 years, my generation has watched as we go bigger and bigger on drinks. I once bought a 64-oz mug with the intention of filling it with ice water every day, only to find myself lured by 69-cent refills of raspberry ice tea made with HFCS. However, I have found that my body really does seem to know when I\'ve had enough sugar. When I drink 365 Cola from Whole Foods, or Aloha Maid products here in Hawaii, or even Mexican Coca-Cola, I am quite satiated with 12 oz. I\'m not compelled to down ounces and ounces of empty calories. And it\'s an easy sell. Last night at the movies, I asked for a \"medium\" drink, which is still 32 oz. of HFCS in a cup. The kid at the counter was like, \"But for only 25 cents more ...\" and suddenly I\'m hauling around a 44oz. monstrosity of raspberry ice tea. This is a total loss leader for businesses, given how inexpensive it is to produce fountain soft drinks. It\'s pure profit for places, so why in the world would anyone want to give up that cash cow? The bigger problem seems to be that HFCS and Aspertame are in so many products on the market right now from condiments to soda that it will be hard to see a discernible difference by reducing consumption. The times when I\'ve eaten less to no HCFS -- such as during a trip to London a few years ago -- my weight literally fell off. I lost almost 10lbs in two weeks. Things don\'t have to be labeled \"natural.\" That\'s a bullshit marketing ploy. But we do need to have HFCS and Aspertame removed from our food supply. Bring back the sugar! Heck, bring the sugar back to Hawaii! Our economy sure could use that boost right now anyway. I fully support the shift back to sugar from HFCS/Aspertame. Our nation\'s health depends on it!
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Mar 30, 2009

killingussweetly said...

Hi,
My google alert picked up your post. The culprit in all that HFCS is the extra fructose. HFCS-55 is the variant that is used for all national brands of soda and many other beverages. While its composition, 55%fructose:
45% glucose appears similar to sucrose, table sugar, it really isn't. 55/45=1.22. That means that every can of soda sweetened with HFCS-55 has, compared to glucose, 22% extra fructose. The metabolic dangers of excess fructose have been well documented. Dr. Dana Flavin has an excellent summary in Life.Extension.com. Fructose goes directly to the liver and when the liver is overwhelmed with too much fructose, lipogenesis is favored. That means the sugar
turns to fat. The reason why you lost so much weight just by eliminating HFCS beverages was because you stopped drinking the extra fructose. Fructose, in contrast with glucose, doesn't elicit the satiety (fullness feeling) signals in the brain. This was recently
published by Johns Hopkins University. I am in full agreement that we should return to sugar.
Ditch HFCS, especially HFCS-55. StopHFCS.com has an extensive list of HFCS-free foods and beverages. To your health.

Apr 18, 2009

surfingfarmboy said...

I just wanted to mention to you that Coca-Cola, it being such a large user of HFCS, does sells cane sugar sweetened Coca-Cola and Sprite, for a brief period of time, every year around the Jewish Passover celebration. I don't know the dietary rules of what can or cannot be consumed during that religious observance, not being of the Jewish faith, but evidently HFCS beverages are not considered kosher for Passover, and as such, Coca-Cola vends 2 liter bottles of cane sugar Coke and Sprite in areas of the USA that have large Jewish communities, in order to offer products to the members of these communities, that comply with the kosher for Passover rules. I know on the East Coast, Passover is highly anticipated by non-Jews, just because "real" sugar-sweetened Coke will become available for about one month. The sugar-sweetened variety can be distinguished from HFCS Coke by the color of the bottle caps; regular HFCS Coke have a red caps, sugar-sweetened Coke have yellow caps which indicate that it has been approved as kosher for Passover. I prefer the sugar-sweetened variety of Coke over the HFCS variety, as it was what I grew up with, drinking it from the now-scarce 6.5 ounce returnable bottles. Being a marathon runner, I generally don't have any weight issues with what sweetener is used in my Coca-Cola, whether it's sugar or HFCS, but if I had my choice, I'd rather have it sweetened with cane sugar, and I wholeheartedly agree with you to bring back the sugar, for the sake of Hawaii's ag industry (that shouldn't be any surprise, seeing my profession!) and because I simply enjoy the taste of the sugar variety the most.

kahunamatata’s posterous

To eat or not to eat HFCS. That is the question.

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