May 22 2009

HFCS is the new trans fat?

Will the confusion about sugars never end?  A recent study reconfirms the metabolic problems caused by too much fructose, but public opinion continues to blame High Fructose Corn Sweeteners (HFCS) as the new dietary evil.   HFCS isn’t really high in fructose.  It has about the same amount of fructose as common table sugar.   Both are about half fructose and half glucose, and both cause metabolic problems when you eat too much of them.  So go easy on the sugars!

Here’s what the New York Times has to say about the study.

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i think that the problem with HFCS, despite your well noted public confusion, is that it is too cheap, particularly because it is so cheap due to subsidies. too much processed sugar of any kind is bad for us, so we need to tilt the scales just a bit in the other direction.

  • Rick A
  • May 22, 2009
  • 11:27 am

The problem with HFCS is not the substance itself so much as where it comes from; GMO monoculture corn, a product which I refuse to purchase. And whenever I cook something at home do I reach for the handy HFCS when I need a sweetener? No, I use sugar. If I woudn’t put it in the food I make why should I buy it in something at the store?

  • Foodaroo
  • May 22, 2009
  • 11:37 pm

According to the documentary “King Corn”, the ingredients of corn syrup are: “corn, water, sulfuric acid (aka. battery acid), alpha-amylase, glucoamylase, glucose isomerase”.

  • Danny
  • May 26, 2009
  • 9:14 am

i’m glad someone of your stature is finally saying it. you notice though, the people who commented above me still don’t get it..

  • rachel
  • May 27, 2009
  • 10:34 am

Although I don’t buy into to the whole HFSC is evil hoopla I would love to see sugar make a comeback. Sodas and baked goods made with cane sugar taste better and are more satisfying to eat than ones made with HFCS.

  • Clive A.
  • June 3, 2009
  • 5:47 pm

The obesity epidemic coincided with the advent of widespread use of HFCS.

QED

The commenter above who pointed to the inexpensiveness of HFCS is right. This is why most of the industrial food companies that have adopted it are so eager to put it in everything.

  • Katkinkate
  • September 7, 2009
  • 2:02 am

Clive A.: “The obesity epidemic coincided with the advent of widespread use of HFCS.

QED”

If ordinary sugar was as cheap and used the same way, the result would have been identical. It’s best to avoid both (as well as honey).

[...] Sugar is back in vogue. Respected and independent nutrition experts such as Marion Nestle and Michael Jacobson point out that there is no scientific evidence of differences between the way [...]

[...] Sugar is back in vogue. Respected and independent nutrition experts such as Marion Nestle and Michael Jacobson point out that there is no scientific evidence of differences between the way [...]

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