High Fructose Corn Syrup Propaganda

Nutrition
81

[quote]brancron wrote:
The purpose of the commericials is to dispel the myth that HFCS is any different from sugar, not that either is good for you. If you’re fine with eating the occasional popsicle, then you don’t have to worry whether it’s made with sucrose or with HFCS (but incidentally, higher quality brands tend to use regular sugar because it’s sexier).[/quote]

I’ll go with LaRoyal on this one and avoid it even more than sugar which I already do. I also believe just because it’s structurally similar to sugar that it metabolizes in the body differently and is more harmful/dangerous to your system.

82

[quote]Gene_lasker wrote:
Does no one care about the plagerizism of articles in posts they make?

I mean, come on, show some respect.[/quote]

GET A LIFE.

83

[quote]BJ* wrote:
that one guy has posted so many times crying about farmers that he COULD have posted one link (or even an entire book) to help make his case. Instead he is just banging his keyboard against his head in some sort of rage. funny.[/quote]

Totally agree. After I started reading the thread I just kept waiting and waiting to see a post where he linked his own posts or where he copy/pasted even an ounce of relevant information, but he just kept whining about how no one knows anything and everyone should shut up. What an idiot. Thank god he’s only dealing with plants on a daily basis, I can only imagine if this guy was a teacher trying to explain concepts to kids: “Shut up all of you! You know nothing! Can’t figure out how to multiply?!? GOOGLE IT YOU IDiOTS!”

84

Big Corn And Fat Asses

Over the past 10 years alone, Congress has appropriated more than $50 billion to encourage farmers to grow the stuff. But people don’t want to eat $50 billion in subsidized corn. And if the cobs just sat around developing mold, Congress would cut off the spigot. Enter high fructose corn syrup, which sucks up the subsidies and created a world in which calories from a sweet, highly caloric additive have become the cheapest of all energy sources. That’s the primary way the syrup contributes to obesity: Not by being more fattening, but by being so heavily subsidized that it makes it far cheaper to sustain yourself on sweetened carbohydrates than on nutritious food. That might be fine if the sweetener were naturally cheap, but instead, taxpayers are funding a concerted effort to flood grocery stores with unnaturally cheap, utterly unhealthy, foods.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=the_problem_with_corn_syrup

85

I saw this pathetic commercial over the weekend, and have to say how disgusted I am. If you notice the two women, the appearance of both of them signify they have no idea about healthy living or lifestyle.

86

I live in upstate NY and just saw the popsicle commercial yesterday.

I thought it was pretty funny.

Here’s something to maybe think about though. The girl in the commercial says “HFCS is fine in moderation.”

Isn’t this a problem when HFCS can be found in a wide range of different foods? It may be fine in moderation, but the average person still gets more than they probably should, given how many foods have HFCS. Thoughts?

87

It doesn’t make sense to me that it could be worse than sucrose.

Except in that it is cheaper, and thus perhaps more is used in products than would be the case if they had to pay for, for example, cane sugar.

And of course it’s worse for taste. Not that I would drink regular Coca-Cola anymore even if were still made with cane sugar, but they really crapped up the product in terms of taste (as did Pepsi and all other competing products) by changing over to corn syrup as the sweetener.

But cleverly, they slowly transitioned with time so the customers would be like frogs in a slowly heated pot, rather than immediately noticing the obnoxious off-taste.

88

They have them down here in the south too.

I was studying on my computer while my girlfriend was watching TV, I’ve told her about that HFCS shit before and to stay away and she pokes me to make me look.

I just about choked on my own laughter.

I have to wonder how many Americans are smart or objective enough to notice who funded the commercial.

89

[quote]iamthewolf wrote:
laroyal wrote:
OK I got a little carried away, to answer the question I have seen the commercials and I live in Ohio.

thank you.

so we have a “no” from rhode island and kentucky, and a “yes” from ohio…interesting…[/quote]

I seen them in AZ
I thought it was the stupidest commercial too

guy and girl on a blanket in the park.
she goes to hand him a popcicle and hes all oh no im watching my weight whatever.
she tells him oh no your fine its hfcs its all natural made from corn so its a healthy sub for table sugar.

I was like WTF is next lol

90

[quote]rainjack wrote:
Nate Dogg wrote:
rainjack wrote:
iamthewolf wrote:
i was just curious if anyone else has begun seeing commercials (sponsored by the corn refiners association) spinning high fructose corn syrup as a completely acceptable additive / alternative to sugar. i don’t know if these are just being shown regionally (i’m in boston), or if this is a nationwide campaign to promote this junk.

after laughing at the commercials with my girlfriend she found the following link, which just pushes this whole spectacle over the edge:

i just think it’s funny, and a little sad, that they’re trying to convince people that hfcs is “ok in moderation.” i mean, are the corn farmers and refiners really hurting that much? hfcs is in just about every processed food known to man. plus, corn is a government subsidized crop after all…

I’ll leave the HFCS bullshit alone, for now. But do you have any clue how utterly ignorant you are about farming, and just how the subsidy programs work in the US?

I doubt it. You are just another bandwagoneer who hasn’t a fucking clue about what he is talking about other than you heard a buzzword, and wanted to sound really cool on the internet.

Dude - know what the fuck you are talking about before you start acting like an expert on it. There is probably a pretty good chance that you will get called on it - kinda like right now.

Don’t let dear old rainjack get under you skin. It seems as though he’s suffering from some post-vacation depression. Or maybe a farmer just rammed a pitchfork up his ass.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is the devil. I can’t believe they are saying it’s okay to consume in moderation. That’s just like saying trans fats are okay for you as well. Just ridiculous.

And yeah, I agree about the government and how they subsidize corn with the farmers. At one point, they were paying farmers all kinds of money to continue growing corn in order to keep the market up. There was some good info about this in Don Alessi’s book “Don’t Diet.”

I’ve also watched a good report on 20/20 that talked about something similar last year.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of how the government works out this subsidizing program, but the fact that we are paying farmers to grow corn to meet the needs of the government is a little out of control.

We don’t need HFCS, nor do we need so much freakin’ corn. It’s bad enough that corn is fed to our cattle, chicken, etc. And they use it for everything these days including cereals, grains and now even in our gasoline (a whole other story - short version: ethanol sucks).

Corn is a crappy food, especially with as much of it that the government and food manufacturers try to ram down our gullets in a variety of ways.

I don’t eat corn or foods containing corn or HFCS, but unfortunately, I eat meat from the grocery store that has been fed mostly corn as part of its diet. The only way to avoid this is to buy grass-fed/organic beef and chicken, but that’s not always feasible due to price and availability.

And people wonder why the world’s obesity population keeps increasing. Even in countries that never had a weight problem before (Japan and Australia), they are now some of the most obese places thanks to American fast food, corn, HFCS, white flour and other processed breads and cereals along with lack of physical activity.

Nate - you are a great guy, but you REALLY REALLY REALLY don’t want to get into a farming argument with me. Taking your farming info from Don Alessi, or 20/20 is like getting training information from the back of a box of Frosted Flakes.

Your beef from the store has been fed a ration of, at most, a 60% grain - and not all of it corn. The rest is alfalfa hay.

Obesity is a function of inactivity more than it is nutrition.

You are in over your head here. Leave now, and you will be spared. Stay at your own risk. I have given you fair warning.

[/quote]

Besides the fact that he is a little mislead on what a subsidy is, I agree with him in principle. Subsidies hurt the economy in the long run and are often times based on government lobbyists. I’m curious as to your support of subsidies in relation to how they effect the economy as a whole.

91

I just restrict processed foods of any kind to less than 1% of my intake and let everybody argue about everything else. That takes care of HFCS, sucrose, flour etc.

No good reason to consume any more than that and 100 reasons not to. For me.

Some younger otherwise healthy folks wouldn’t be harmed by not being this stringent.

92

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
It doesn’t make sense to me that it could be worse than sucrose.

Except in that it is cheaper, and thus perhaps more is used in products than would be the case if they had to pay for, for example, cane sugar.
…[/quote]

I think that is the problem right there. There is just too much of the stuff because it is so cheap.

93

bullshit makes me sick

94

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
It doesn’t make sense to me that it could be worse than sucrose.

Except in that it is cheaper, and thus perhaps more is used in products than would be the case if they had to pay for, for example, cane sugar.[/quote]

It’s used in certain products for its hydroscopic property (keeps them moist longer), and it doesn’t crystalize.

95

Finally saw it here in Mississippi.

“I’ve heard that it’s bad for you.”

“No worse than common table sugar. Just like sugar, it’s OK in moderation.”

96

What is so hard to understand, glucose requires extra steps to store itself as glycogen that fructose can bypass and convert directly in glycogen which leads to a tendency to store it as fat. If it is not used when consumed this will happen. It is not the cause of obesity but, it does not help people. It is not the same as glucose. It has different linkages. Do your own research, don’t believe me or the commercials, look it up.