301354 Tue Jan 17 16:42:18 -0800 2006 17 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1679833 Ok, I already know the answer to this question but I guess I'm just venting. I don't understand why corn syrup has become such a staple ingredient in everything I purchase in the supermarket. It has become nearly impossible to find products which do not contain it. Mind you, I'm by no means a nut about these things - it's not like I'm running around only buying organic items, etc. but I do try and eat as well as possible whenever I can. That to me means, staying away from unnecessary ingredients which add no nutritional value to a food. Corn syrup fits the bill. I know, it is all a political thing - I read Fast Food Nation, I'm aware. Today, I went to buy a small box of Saltines, an item I don't buy alot because a box takes a while to disappear in my house. I suddenly realized it had corn syrup in it. For what reason? How is this improving the flavor and/or texture of an item that has been around for what, like 50 years or more? It drives me nuts. I can see using it in a cookie recipe, because it then is an essential ingredient in certain recipes (for instance, the chewy ginger cookies I made at Christmas time). But to unneccessarily use it just to add more sugar and added calories, well, you get the point. I'll step off my soapbox now. Just had to get this out somewhere! Laurie Tue Jan 17 16:42:18 -0800 2006 0 sivyaleah 1 1679835 IIRC, sugar prices went up very rapidly and went very high in the mid 70s. For a while (~6 months ? in ~77 or 78) a six pack of Coca Cola cost almost as much as a 12 pack of beer. I worked in a liquor store at that time. I don't remember the reason why sugar became so expensive, but Via magazine recently profiled sugar plantations in Hawaii, and the article mentioned Unions raising the cost of labor. Very little cane sugar is produced in Hawaii compared to historical times. The time frame of the reduction of sugar production was late 70s. HFCS has replaced sugar in most processed foods, in my area; growing sugar beets, sugar beet processing, and importation of cane sugar has disappeared. To my knowledge, the last sugar beet processor in Nor Cal closed down in ~2000. With the cost of sugar so high, HFCS took sugar's place. Most consumers are more concerned with price than (insert any other attribute). Tue Jan 17 17:02:02 -0800 2006 1679833 0 Alan408 2 1679965 If the U.S. would just allow processors in the United States to buy sugar at the world price, which is less than half of what you can buy it for in the U.S., then food manufacturers would switch back to sugar. Right now, we buy sugar for $0.42/lb and the world market is like $0.15/lb. HFCS is currently around $0.115/lb. Thu Jan 19 10:10:14 -0800 2006 1679835 0 Fujisan 1 1679838 I have a friend who's very allergic to corn - including corn syrup, and she has a terrible time finding things she can eat. (She's often forced to eat healthy, unprocessed food even when she doesn't want to!) As a result, I have become more aware of The Dreaded Corn Syrup Invasion, and I deplore it as much as you do. Anne Tue Jan 17 17:13:34 -0800 2006 1679833 0 AnneInMpls 1 1679839 Interesting article on Corn Syrup below. Link: http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html Tue Jan 17 17:16:45 -0800 2006 1679833 0 theSauce 2 1679842 Great article and exactly what my complaints are about. Thanks for the link. Laurie Tue Jan 17 17:25:13 -0800 2006 1679839 0 sivyaleah 2 1679845 "According to a food technology expert, two of the enzymes used, alpha-amylase and glucose-isomerase, are genetically modified to make them more stable. Enzymes are actually very large proteins and through genetic modification specific amino acids in the enzymes are changed or replaced so the enzyme's "backbone" won't break down or unfold." As this paragraph actually says, enzymes are large proteins -- they don't have genes, and therefore can't be genetically modified. This, plus the repeated characterization of the "world of HFCS" as "murky" makes me question the whether the facts of this story are being manipulated to promote an agenda. Seeing this article out of context hides the agenda: the full description of the Weston A. Price Foundation includes the phrase "For Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts." Even though I agree with much of what this article says, I would take some of it -- as I would many, many things I read on the web -- with a large grain of salt. Organizations like this prey on the lack of scientific knowledge of the public when they promulgate scare articles like this one. Tue Jan 17 17:53:13 -0800 2006 1679839 0 Ruth Lafler 3 1679860 but genes make proteins, so the genes that make these enzymes can be genetically modified and manipulated. not that your point about the hidden agenda isn't well-taken, but it isn't that assertion that gives me pause. From other sources i've read, their assertions about the percentage of genetically modified food is fairly reasonable. but then, what do people mean by genetically modified? I'm not sure the general public that seems so scared of genetically modified food actually understands what this term means, and realizes the vast array of food that comes under that rubric. Tue Jan 17 20:34:10 -0800 2006 1679845 0 missmasala 4 1679866 I think the fact that they're probably using genetically engineered organisms to make enzymes is what the author meant. The reason it gives me pause is (1) despite the fact that she sounds so authoritative, the author doesn't really understand what she's talking about -- if she got that wrong, who knows what else she got wrong; and (2) she was clearly intentionally or unintentionally preying on people's ignorance and fear of GMOs by bringing them into her anti-HFSC screed like the boogeyman. Tue Jan 17 21:29:01 -0800 2006 1679860 0 Ruth Lafler 5 1679868 Let's face it. The author has a "Masters in Tourism Administration" WOW!!! (I am assuming that's what and MTA is, I wonder if it's from an online program?) and is a "Certified Culinary Professional" (again an assumption of what CCP means) which requires a $150-300 fee and passing an exam that 90% of the people who take it, pass the first time, and think it's "fun." We're not talking a highly educated and trained research writer here. Tue Jan 17 23:10:35 -0800 2006 1679866 0 JMF 6 1679899 Well, that's true. But if we all posted our occupations after the opinions written in posts here, maybe we wouldn't sound so authoritative, either. However, there are great opinions and analysis on this board nontheless. "murky HFCS world" turns me off as well. But the facts behind some of the studies that I've seen remain true, as anyone can attest after spending about 8 hours doing research. Which is all the author wold have had to do to generate that article. Wed Jan 18 10:59:01 -0800 2006 1679868 0 rudeboy 1 1679867 Several months ago we started avoiding products with high fructose corn syrup. Takes a little extra time to look at the labels and sometimes a little extra cash. Seems like I feel better and don't have that must eat more feeling that the hfcs causes. Another thing is that I will call or write the company and thank them for not adding this stuff to their products. Maybe I should contact the brands I used to buy too. One small voice for change... Tue Jan 17 21:54:12 -0800 2006 1679833 0 LindaR 2 1680356 Fructose has been shown in some rat studies to induce that "must eat more" feeling you are talking about. However, most HFCS has nearly exactly the same proportion of fructose to sucrose as regular table sugar does (that is, 50-50). They call it "high fructose" corn syrup because normal corn syrup is nearly all glucose, so it is "high" compared to none. So HFCS will not induce that "must eat more" feeling any more than sugar will. If you are avoiding them both, kudos. Tue Jan 24 13:47:21 -0800 2006 1679867 0 Jess 1 1679873 Others have already pointed to the largely political and economic reasons it's found in most food products so I won't repeat them. The most important thing is that once you become aware of it, it becomes easier and easier to avoid. I avoid virtually all products that contain it, even if that means I do without something I might otherwise want. Of course there are exceptions but I've found out that as I walk down the aisles in the supermarket, I buy less and less product that is packaged, and more and more from the farmers market and the produce aisle and cook virtually everything from scratch. I'm fine with that. The more people that do this, the more impact it will have at the margins in terms of encouraging some producers to produce products that are free of these kinds of unhealty additives (and I'm no nut-eatin, vegan, vitamin poppin health freak [not that there's anything wrong with that]). Unfortunately, all you have to do is walk into the food aisles at Walmart or Sams Club or any supermarket to realize that its a losing battle, but I'll still fight it. Wed Jan 18 07:28:07 -0800 2006 1679833 0 Ellen 1 1679891 i don't really have a stance for or against corn syrup as i don't eat many things that contain it. i did, however, want to point out that corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are not the same thing (see link). Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup Wed Jan 18 09:42:22 -0800 2006 1679833 0 mark 1 1679893 In addition to much of the reasoning below, let me add a few points: America's taste for oversweetened food is a major factor. Fat-free, or "light" versions of normal food often use corn syrup as a replacement. There is a HUGE difference between corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. People seem to be using the terms interchangeably (while the food labels can not), but from what I understand, they are very different. Am I wrong? Wed Jan 18 09:50:08 -0800 2006 1679833 0 Two Forks 1 1680340 New York Times did a ground-breaking series of articles on the recent American diabetes epidemic about a week ago. Some answers to your questions will be found there if you go to their site and do a search. Tue Jan 24 11:25:07 -0800 2006 1679833 0 Niki Rothman 2 1680349 I read them. What, exactly, is "ground-breaking" about these articles? Tue Jan 24 12:40:57 -0800 2006 1680340 0 Two Forks