The new public service announcement.
Even though we're financed by the industry making the product we're promoting, we're actually just concerned about your health. Really. (See also: Got Milk ads.)
In the last few months I've seen some commercials that disturb me.
There are three that I've seen, and they all follow the same basic script:
Person 1: Want this food item?
Person 2: No! That has high fructose corn syrup in it. Don't you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup?
Person 1: What do they say?
Person 2: Ummm.... well.....
Person 1: That it's made from corn, it's the same as sugar, and is fine is moderation?
Person 2: Yeah, I guess so. [Takes offered food item and smiles.]
Then, in the last 2 seconds, the words "Corn Refiners Association" appears in small print.
Okay, so let's assume that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) really is nutritionally the same as sugar, that it really is ok in moderation? In what American diet is HFCS consumed in moderation? Ever read a food label? Virtually every processed food has HFCS in it. Even things that don't need a sweetener, contain HFCS. Ever tried to find a loaf of sliced bread, even whole wheat bread, that doesn't contain HFCS? Take a look. You won't find more than 1, maybe 2, specific items in the bread section of your average grocery store that doesn't contain HFCS. Not 1 or 2 brands, only 1 or 2 items. Take a look.
And now, albeit without any scientific proof, I'd like to submit a gut-instinct hypothesis: The human body evolves, just like any other species. So, yes, I'm sure eventually we could get used to anything and learn to thrive. But that's thousands and hundreds of thousands of years. For most of the last hundred thousand years, we've eaten sugar that came from fruit, honey, or sugar cane. And we ate that sugar in a fairly raw state - we eat a whole fruit, we put pure honey on bread, as minimally process sugar cane to extract the sugar (although I will argue that the latter falls significantly nearer to HFCS then honey in terms of this argument). As in, we're eating something that's found in nature, so it makes sense to eat it.
High fructose corn syrup, on the other hand, comes from corn. That much is true. But that corn is processed and ground up and things are extracted, and eventually you end up with HFCS. It's about as far from the natural state of corn as you can get. Even if it has enough similar properties to sugar to taste similar, is really plausible to assume that eating honey, which is processed by nature, will be digested in exactly the same manner and have exactly the same impact on our bodies as eating corn that has gone through dozens of processing step and in no way resembles the product as it was grown? It just doesn't make sense to me. It'll take another hundred thousand years before we can truly digest it a way that will actually be beneficial to our bodies.
And now you can't even avoid it. Unless you want to eat only foods that are organic, have cane sugar, and/or you cook yourself from raw ingredients, it's virtually impossible to avoid. And definitely impossible to only eat it in moderation. I'll give them the theory that it's fine in moderation. But as a practical diet guideline, not so helpful.
To view the commercials, you can go to the ad campaign's website at: http://www.hfcsfacts.com/, or google "corn refiners association commercial" or like phrases to find the videos on youtube.com.
For an alternate view on corn, I would highly recommend reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (http://www.michaelpollan.com/index.htm).
In the last few months I've seen some commercials that disturb me.
There are three that I've seen, and they all follow the same basic script:
Person 1: Want this food item?
Person 2: No! That has high fructose corn syrup in it. Don't you know what they say about high fructose corn syrup?
Person 1: What do they say?
Person 2: Ummm.... well.....
Person 1: That it's made from corn, it's the same as sugar, and is fine is moderation?
Person 2: Yeah, I guess so. [Takes offered food item and smiles.]
Then, in the last 2 seconds, the words "Corn Refiners Association" appears in small print.
Okay, so let's assume that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) really is nutritionally the same as sugar, that it really is ok in moderation? In what American diet is HFCS consumed in moderation? Ever read a food label? Virtually every processed food has HFCS in it. Even things that don't need a sweetener, contain HFCS. Ever tried to find a loaf of sliced bread, even whole wheat bread, that doesn't contain HFCS? Take a look. You won't find more than 1, maybe 2, specific items in the bread section of your average grocery store that doesn't contain HFCS. Not 1 or 2 brands, only 1 or 2 items. Take a look.
And now, albeit without any scientific proof, I'd like to submit a gut-instinct hypothesis: The human body evolves, just like any other species. So, yes, I'm sure eventually we could get used to anything and learn to thrive. But that's thousands and hundreds of thousands of years. For most of the last hundred thousand years, we've eaten sugar that came from fruit, honey, or sugar cane. And we ate that sugar in a fairly raw state - we eat a whole fruit, we put pure honey on bread, as minimally process sugar cane to extract the sugar (although I will argue that the latter falls significantly nearer to HFCS then honey in terms of this argument). As in, we're eating something that's found in nature, so it makes sense to eat it.
High fructose corn syrup, on the other hand, comes from corn. That much is true. But that corn is processed and ground up and things are extracted, and eventually you end up with HFCS. It's about as far from the natural state of corn as you can get. Even if it has enough similar properties to sugar to taste similar, is really plausible to assume that eating honey, which is processed by nature, will be digested in exactly the same manner and have exactly the same impact on our bodies as eating corn that has gone through dozens of processing step and in no way resembles the product as it was grown? It just doesn't make sense to me. It'll take another hundred thousand years before we can truly digest it a way that will actually be beneficial to our bodies.
And now you can't even avoid it. Unless you want to eat only foods that are organic, have cane sugar, and/or you cook yourself from raw ingredients, it's virtually impossible to avoid. And definitely impossible to only eat it in moderation. I'll give them the theory that it's fine in moderation. But as a practical diet guideline, not so helpful.
To view the commercials, you can go to the ad campaign's website at: http://www.hfcsfacts.com/, or google "corn refiners association commercial" or like phrases to find the videos on youtube.com.
For an alternate view on corn, I would highly recommend reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (http://www.michaelpollan.com/index.htm).