The Corn Lobby Is REALLY Desperate. Do People Believe This Stuff?
Which one is natural?
Those that watch much of any television have probably seen the two new advertisements about High-Fructose Corn Syrup (see videos below). Today, I came across another great post by Ross Enamait about these two videos.
Just as an aside, here’s why I love reading Ross’ site: he’s not afraid to say “It’s your fault and you’re the only one that can do anything about it.” He gives the kind of message people need to hear…direct, actionable, and rarely politically correct. And he does it all without sounding like a raving lunatic.
Anyway, on to the videos. See you in 60 seconds:
DUMP HER! I don’t care how cute she is. Today it’s High-Fructose Corn Syrup; tomorrow she’s feeding you arsenic!
So What You’re Saying Is…
And we’re back. Okay, so what’s the main premise of these two videos? They don’t go so far as to say it, but they’re hinting that it’s a “natural” sweetener with that “It’s made from corn” line. And hey, I can’t argue that it’s “made from corn.” That much is obvious. But just how close to that lovely ear of corn pictured above is it? Let’s turn to Wikipedia to help us out.
The enzyme process which changes the 100% glucose corn syrup into HFCS 90 is as follows:
1. Cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called oligosaccharides.
2. Glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose.
3. Xylose isomerase (aka glucose isomerase) converts glucose to a mixture of about 42% fructose and 50’52% glucose with some other sugars mixed in.While inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry and used only once, the more costly glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it, allowing it to be used repeatedly until it loses its activity. This 42’43% fructose glucose mixture is then subjected to a liquid chromatography step where the fructose is enriched to approximately 90%. The 90% fructose is then back-blended with 42% fructose to achieve a 55% fructose final product. Most manufacturers use carbon absorption for impurity removal. Numerous filtration, ion-exchange and evaporation steps are also part of the overall process.
That’s a lot of processing to go from corn kernel to HFCS. So technically it’s made from corn, but let’s get real, it bears as much resemblance to corn as partially hydrogenated soybean oil does to the soybean it came from.
The Raw Truth
Now, if you’re read my article on the various sweeteners, you know that I’m no big fan of so-called “natural” sweeteners either, at least not on a regular basis. I don’t think HFCS is going to do a great deal more damage than an equivalent amount of sugar, honey, or agave. HFCS is more processed than sugar and even farther more processed than honey, but in the end, it’s all sugar and all about the same concentration of glucose-to-fructose. However, the main issue with HFCS is that it’s…in…everything. It’s so cheap that everything can be sweetened.
So let’s face facts:
- High-fructose corn syrup is far from “natural”.
- High-fructose corn syrup is probably as “okay in moderation” as any other sugar. That is to say, extreme moderation.
- No sugar should be a significant portion of your diet.
What are your thoughts on these two videos?
21 Reader Comments
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To offer another analogy similar to yours, HFCS is about as close to being corn as vegetable oil is to being vegetables. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would slug down a cup of vegetable oil and think it was even remotely close to the same thing as eating a salad.
Like you, my main concern with HFCS is that it’s in everything, even stuff that doesn’t need to be sweetened. I didn’t realize this until I started to watch what I’m eating and reading labels for sauces and other lightly processed things like sausage or lunch meats. Went to marinate a nice steak with a little Worchestershire sauce until I read the label and saw HFCS. Want some ketchup? HFCS. A nice grilled bratwurst? HFCS. Want a glass of V8? Wait, it’s got Worchestershire sauce, which probably also has HFCS.
So yeah, fine in moderation like any other sugar, but it’s difficult to moderate when everything contains HFCS. I would never sit down to a steak and dump a tablespoon of sugar on it, so why would I dump a tablespoon of HFCS on it in the form of Worchestershire sauce?
As far as stuff that uses HFCS in place of sugar or some other sweetener, I wouldn’t be eating that anyway, so that’s not such a big deal. I don’t miss popsicles or artificially flavored fruit drinks or sodas or any of that stuff. And I’ve started finding recipes to make replacements for the stuff I want to use that I don’t think needs HFCS. I make my own sauces, ketchup, mayo, mustard, marinades, and if any of them need a little extra sweetening, I get all that I need from a couple teaspoons of honey.
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very similar to the way any major conglomerate acts when its about to be exposed, tobacco, the media recently with Sarah Palin, the mortgage industry, etc. etc. thank you to Michael Pollan for showing how insidious it truly is.
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“Get the Facts…You’re In For a Sweet Surprise”
Yeah, Type 2 Diabetes…What a surprise!?!
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http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/1969924.htm
I posted this link to the comments on Ross’ site as well. Important info that is being missed relating fructose to fatty live disease, for starters.
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Cute videos, but for those of us who take the time to learn about these things, all they really show is how “sheeple-ish” people are. I think the videos are apt illustrations how many people catch on to an idea that something is “bad” but don’t ever really learn why.
That’s why the low fat lie took hold, that’s what I see happening with agave syrup, evaporated cane juice (sugar), and holy, I mean, whole grains. Too many people just accept what they are told (by authorities, marketers, etc.) because they a) don’t think anyone would lie to them, even crass commercial gain, and b) they really think the diet advice from the authorities is all about health (much of it it, especially originating from the USDA, is about ensuring US agricultural products are consumed) and c) because it’s what they want to hear (most people want to think there is some form of “healthy” sweetener”.
I’m sure other readers here wouldn’t be those people who are dumb-struck when pressed further for their objections on HFCS. I know I have plenty to say (too much?) to back up my objections (starting with increasing rates of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, likely from concentrated fructose in both table sugar and HFCS), probably more than any juice-pouring mom would stay to hear
, (though I don’t think I would have had the nerve to open the conversation with “don’t care what you feed your kids?”).
I must be DVRing so fast through the commercials; I missed these entirely. Thanks for posting them, Scott.
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[...] The Corn Lobby Strikes Back [...]
i saw these commercials the other night on TV too. i was pretty amazed how HFCS is touted as “all natural.” They make it seem like HFCS is the best stuff ever. Thanks for more info on this stuff!
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I also agree with Ross’ comment: I would love to see a modified version of this commercial where, instead of the person staring dumbly back at HFCS pusher, they actually have a well thought out response about why they don’t want to consume corn syrup.
“HFCS: Like corn, but different!”
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I also commented on Ross Enamait’s site, but this one has me so fired up I am going to comment here as well!
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing when I saw these videos – the levels of cynicism are almost beyond description. Only the bare-faced, amoral greed of the cigarette companies comes close to matching the motives behind this sort of advertising.
The film The Corporation examines the way companies behave in the context of a psychiatrist’s view, concluding that when examined on these terms, companies exhibit all the traits of a psychopath. I think this is fundamentally at the root of many of our problems with the food industry.
Shareholders want profit, employees want to keep their jobs, and this drives the whole machine. When the companies were formed they may not have been engaged in such bad practices, but now that they are they cannot just stop or the bottom line suffers.
Individually, shareholders are just regular folk investing for the future. For all I know, I may own shares (indirectly through investment in funds) in a company that manufacturers HFCS. Other, regular folk work for companies that make things like HFCS, but they are probably too busy with their lives a make a cause out of objecting to aspects of what their employer does.
The corporate structure allows a bunch of primarily good people to drive the processes by which bad things are sold…
Methuselah
Pay Now Live Later
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I watched the second ad on TV and it is a showcase for number one reasoning anomaly. Corn is natural (or healthy.. whatever) , HFCS is made of corn therefore HFCS is natural (or healthy).
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[...] When I saw it, I had to stop and say “did that commercial really happen?”. Was it a dream? Nope. So apparently, shame on the woman for saying HFCS is bad for you. (oh and that is just 1 of 2 commercials with the same message) Wow! I think it was my buddy Greg at Performance Menu who said it best “It’s a hell of a strategy – making people feel like dumb ass(censored) for being concerned with their health.” Is that what the message was? I’m not the only one outraged by it as Ross at Rosstraining came out swinging and Scott at Modern Forager also had something to say. [...]
[...] do want to know how industrialized crap became the norm, read this piece from Modern Forager about some recent HFCS advertisement. Our cuisine and food choice are essentially being dictated to us by the food industry, either [...]
Scott – check out this alternative version of the HFCS advertisement. Not quite as professional, but a little closer to the truth!
Alternative HFCS Advertisement
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Alex, very nice!
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How about a healthy dose of reconstituted fruit juice?
There are about 20 aisles in my local supermarket and I do all my shopping at 3 of them
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Very wise argument.
People are complaining about how crazy the commercial is, but the commercial is exactly correct, HFCS is fine in moderation. I’m more concerned about advertisements for tomato sauce and whole wheat bread, both of which often contain tons of sugar in the form of HFCS. I just wrote about this in my site if anyone cares to check it out.
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[...] When I saw it, I had to stop and say “did that commercial really happen?”. Was it a dream? Nope. So apparently, shame on the woman for saying HFCS is bad for you. (oh and that is just 1 of 2 commercials with the same message) Wow! I think it was my buddy Greg at Performance Menu who said it best “It’s a hell of a strategy – making people feel like dumb ass(censored) for being concerned with their health.” Is that what the message was? I’m not the only one outraged by it as Ross at Rosstraining came out swinging and Scott at Modern Forager also had something to say. [...]
High Fructose Corn Syrup should be considered a drug. Children should not be given HFCS at all! Yes all sweeteners should be used in moderation. I just disagree that HFCS should be considered another sweetener to use sparingly.
The stuff is so chemically processed and concentrated that it is addicting to children. Foods don’t taste right to them unless they are chemicalized when they are fed this poison. My kids always wondered why the other kids thought food was weird at our house. It tasted just fine to them.
This is a huge health issue, and the parasitic commercials should be stopped.
Heart disease is still the biggest killer in the western world, and education is your best defense. In a nut shell, avoid sugar and salt, and eat whole. Join the discussion at Heart Failure Solutions.
Many blessings.
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[...] refinado (sucrose), não é a mesma coisa. O HFCS é um produto altamente processado, uma falsa frutose (moléculas de glucose e frutose desligadas, compostos estes designados [...]
“Cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called oligosaccharides.”
So basically, an enzyme that occurs naturally in malted grain turns starches into dextrins, just like any other kind of sugar production.
In other news, my city’s tap water is contaminated with dihydrogen monoxide.
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A verified & vetted empirical article, based in science, not fiction, was published by the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring Of 2009, in their peer-reviewed journal WISE TRADITIONS, entitled: ‘WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT’ with a very long and detailed bibliography of irrefutable facts on HFCS.
Bottom line, 55 DE HFCS is directly metabolized in the human KREBS CYCLE, not to blood glucose, like cane sugar, but immediately jacks-up your blood triglycerides, and/or is stored as body fat.
HFCS chemically is not cane sugar, as it crystallizes at 65 degrees F, and burns at 140 degress F; whereas cane sugar crystallizes at 20 degress F and burn at 230 degrees, while being metabolize in humans to blood glucose (not hyper and hypo) F.
HFCS uses undeclared (“aid to processing”) dihydrogen monoxide, a proven chromosonal damaging and cancer causing toxin, to prevent crystillization in beverages or food applications. Parts per million potencies of dihydrogen monoxide are lethal (per EPA testing).
We in carbohydrate science knew in the early 1970′s that 20 pounds per year per person of HFCS would trigger heart disease, inflammation, insulin resistance, nutrient deplete triggered forms of cancer, as well as OBESITY. Today the Average American is consuming 100 pounds per year of HFCS (hard insider Corn Refiner Association bushel conversion numbers for 2008).
The actuarial and epidemiological rise in diabetes in the US population, as well as obesity, heart disease, etc., are directly related to the increased consumption of HFCS from the early 1970′s until today in 2009.
HFCS is Big Pharma’s best friend, to create conditions they can sell more harmful drugs to, as a direct result.
READ OR WATCH:
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DRUG COMPANIES by Dr. Marcia Angell, MD
SWEET DECEPTION by Drs Joseph Mercola & Kendra Pearsall, MD’s
FAT LAND by Greg Critser
SUGAR SHOCKED by Connie Bennett, RD
‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH WHAT WE EAT?” by Mark Bittman @ http://www.youtube.com
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