Tuesday, June 10, 2008
High Fructose Corn Syrup - A Sticky Ingredient
My wife has gone on a tear about high fructose corn syrup because of some widely publicized health concerns. Companies treat corn syrup with enzymes to increase its sweetness, and import restrictions on sugar keep the price artificially high - supposedly twice that in the rest of the world - in this country, so many food manufacturers rely on HFCS to reduce their costs.
It's in wide use - a Tufts study in 2005 suggested that whereas bread was once the major source of calories in the diets of Americans, drinks sweetened with HFCS have now taken that position. For more personally empirical data, go to a grocery store and see how many products include HFCS: everything from sodas to snack chips. We've undertaken an interesting experiment of trying to eliminate HFCS as much as possible from our house. That still leaves anything at a restaurant that might fly under the radar, but I can say that even just within the house, making the switch is difficult. But any ingredient that has Archers Daniels Midland (ADM) spending heaven knows how much in lobbying fees to protect it can't be all good.
It's in wide use - a Tufts study in 2005 suggested that whereas bread was once the major source of calories in the diets of Americans, drinks sweetened with HFCS have now taken that position. For more personally empirical data, go to a grocery store and see how many products include HFCS: everything from sodas to snack chips. We've undertaken an interesting experiment of trying to eliminate HFCS as much as possible from our house. That still leaves anything at a restaurant that might fly under the radar, but I can say that even just within the house, making the switch is difficult. But any ingredient that has Archers Daniels Midland (ADM) spending heaven knows how much in lobbying fees to protect it can't be all good.
Labels: drinks, ingredients, processed foods, sugar
