The Real Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup

Although it comes from corn, HFCS is far from natural as it is implied in these commercials. But again it is as acceptable as any other sugar. I don't think any type of sugar should play a dominant role in your diet anyways and HCFS is very widely used. Even in not sweet products.

This is yet another example of big business trying to pull the wool over our eyes with slick advertising. See here:

HFCS, The Little Man and Big Business

for a discussion around this and a comparison with the tobacco and sugar industries. These campaigns always play the 'moderation' card as though it in some way obviates them of responsibility. People cannot always moderate, especially when the product itself has an effect on the appetite.

You know, whether HFCS is that bad or not, did anyone else take heart that people are starting to care enough that it's showing in the bottom line for the line of production and they're needing to advertise instead of silently putting it in? That gives me hope. .

"Implicating a single food in causing weight gain or disease is folly and takes the focus away from the big picture of our diets."

HA!! You guys do that on a weekly basis when you post some horrible photo of a giant cheeseburger and then indict it as being responsible for obesity. Just last week you had a quadruple burger from Australia that you implicated as a culprit in Australia's growing obesity problem.

Let's not squabble, kids. Since Diet Blog is a multi-contributor blog we can't expect every post to dovetail perfectly with every other one. Nevertheless, it's also valid for commenters to expect some degree of coherence from any blog.

Either way, it's probably self-defeating to debate the comparable devilry of things like sugar and HFCS. I can see why Barry would take issue specifically with HFCS because there is some pretty frightening research out there about livers looking like those of alcoholics. But then again, Sugar has had some pretty nasty results in relation to addiction and vitamin deficiencies, as I recall.

Fact is, sugar, HFCS and burgers all make you fat if you eat them not in moderation and since the only thing the average consumer is really good at moderating is moderation itself, it seems reasonable to demonise these products either separately or together - it makes little difference which...

The point though Methuselah is that HFCS is no worse than sugar not that it's good for you ,and yes too many calories will make you fat that's obvious.

I'm guessing the little cartoon is natalie dee. Probably should attribute that (as she kindly requests on her website).

I hate when foods say that they're better just because they're 'all natural' or 'organic.'

The irrational focus on single ingredients as "evil" is actually harmful to dieters.

Obesity is caused by too much food (measured in calories) for your physical activity level. It is not caused by secret evil foods and is not cured by special healthy foods. Foods should not be treated as evil spirits or magic protective talismans.

My main problem with HFCS is the fact that, because it IS so cheap, food manufacturers add it to absolutely EVERYTHING to make it more palatable (especially to kids). Before HFCS was so readily available, food manufacturers rarely added a ton of sugar to otherwise savory foods because of the added cost. It probably wouldn't make a difference if they added sugar instead of HFCS to, say, ketchup, but they add it and it makes the calorie count go up. Also, these commercials bug me because they sort of imply that processed foods are OK. The mom is pouring fake, 0% juice "drink" for her kids and is defending it to the other mom. If I were the other mom, I'd be like "So, you don't care what you give the kids...you don't believe in giving them REAL juice instead of glorified Kool Aid?" If you eat a lot of whole foods, you can avoid a lot of hidden HFCS in your diet.

My beef with HFCS is that it's in so many foods. I'm lucky in that I have the time to make my own breads and sweets, so I can use different sweeteners like honey or agave syrup if I feel like it. But sometimes the pace of modern life demands a little convenience...like canned stewed tomatoes, for instance. Why is there HFCS in my canned tomatoes? And that's not all -- it's hiding in lots of weird foods. The notion of eating it in moderation is nice, but kind of hard for most people who have to shop at the regular supermarket instead of Whole Paycheck.

I found a site with yummy recipes made easy to help simplify the doubt of how to eat right!

HFCS is a poison to your body and it is unfortunate how these companies air these commercials to spin people in their favor.

I cut back on high fructose corn syrup because I noticed that I had heart burn when I consumed beverages with this in it. I’ve also seen news articles about how it makes you gain weight. But recently when I was walking around the store I was thinking about the digestive issue and I was reminded of my grown son, who as an infant was really bad at the projectile form of spitting up. So I went to the baby food aisle and looked at the formula cans. Sure enough, the first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup. I wonder if parents know that when they fix a bottle for their baby.