Comfort in the Unreal

[darlox]

I've been reading a lot of publications lately, mostly as a result of real-life conversations that I wanted to know more about. At zoethe's prompting, I read a study on High Fructose Corn Syrup in rats. I skimmed a few of the references on whether vaccines cause autism, in the wake of a US Court ruling. I ready a study that found the first conclusive

Comments

[darlox]

*laugh* Ok, so it seems that ALL of my posts lately somehow end up as HFCS debates

[darlox]

Absolutely agree with that, but as I've always said, the issue with that is quantity -- not the specific substance. Because of American preferences (what tastes out the best in focus groups and market trials) we have all of this stuff crammed into our food.

But HFCS has become the red herring of the sugar debate. People seem to think that banning HFCS will somehow solve the obesity epidemic. When, in fact, prices will go up 5-cents per package, and manufacturers will switch to sucrose, or sugar alcohols (like Xylitol) or even manufactured glucose syrup... all of which have their own problems, sometimes the same ones as HFCS.

Until we get a handle on quantity of consumption -- which is actually the larger problem of changing preference -- all the "war on HFCS" will do is raise prices and spin out a lot of questionable and inapplicable research looking for a cure-all.

[darlox]

... and inside the US as well. They boosted the price 5 cents per can, and called it Pepsi throwback. ;)

One thing to look at here is that the "obesity epidemic" is emerging in places throughout the world where HFCS isn't broadly used. Kids in Japan are getting diabetes and putting on weight, but there's nary a drop of HFCS to be found, since southern Japan is great for cane sugar, but most of the country is terrible for corn. So you have familiar trend lines starting to form, but completely different products. If that doesn't kick the HFCS crowd in the pants eventually, I'm not sure what will...