apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The chemical process used to transform High Fructose corn syrup from regular corn syrup makes it the equivalent by weight in sweetness to table sugar. The extra sugars added to it reacts in your body differently. Normally to break down sugars your body produces an enzyme making the sugars digestible. HFCS does not require the production of this enzyme. The result is an abnormally fast and high spike in blood sugar. This spike is a contributing factor in diabetes.

according to this...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-27-corn-syrup_N.htm?csp=34

mercury has been found in HFCS! so its really just best to avoid processed foods.

Kim O'Donnel, food columnist and blogger in the Washington Post, has an interesting post on HFCS today:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/?hpid=news-col-blog-viewall

as if it isn't bad enough...
mercury found in HFCS - something to do with the processing
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013866786

"Mercury was found in nine of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup tested by a Food and Drug Administration researcher, and a separate study by a public health group found mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand named food and beverages where the sweetener was listed as the first or second ingredient."

it uses a lot of petroleum and energy to produce HCFS, and a lot of fertilizers on the corn pollute water as far as the gulf of mexico.

Those same articles were on Huffington Post and multiple science journals today about mercury. Be informed!

From reading Greg Critser, Gary Taubes, and Pollan, what I've extrapolated is this: HFCS has only been around since (I think) the 1970s. It's a highly processed chemical. What it really does in our bodies is not yet understood, but many studies have shown that it doesn't do good things.

Reason enough for me to skip it!

IMO the jury is still out on this but its surprising how different sweeteners change the intestine on a molecular basis---one example I know involves sugar substitutes and a glucose transporter that is normally on the bottom of the cells and moves to the top side where it actually causes the absorption of more sugar. I'm worried that HFCS could cause something similar given that its not a natural ratio of sugars despite being derived from a natural product---also I am somewhat corn intolerant so I avoid the stuff where possible but I don't really sweat it, yet. Then I never thought trans-fat would be so bad its just a very simple chemical change.

i recently got some sugar beet syrup from ikea (weird, i know) to use as a substitute for corn syrup in recipes like homemade marshmallow and caramel.

Way back when I was a kid, the occasional recipe calling for Karo Syrup was the only way we consumed HCFS. Sadly not so today.

Along with today's articles on mercury, the documentary "King Corn" is eye-opening.

The fact that something is processed is not an argument against it. You need to show that the processing does something to the food that makes it bad for you. Perhaps, given the evidence you all have posted above, that standard has be met for HFCS. However, vegetable and nut oils are often highly processed, as is decaffeinated coffee, distilled spirits, the masa corn flour used in tortillas, and myriad other foods that we eat. In fact, to use an example that came up recently, almond extract contains traces of the incredibly poisonous cyanide, while synthetic (and presumably highly processed) almond extract does not.

The science of food and nutrition is too important to sloppily condemn foods for being processed. Better to condemn foods we know are bad for you.

Corn syrup has to be processed into high fructose corn syrup, so they're not exactly the same thing. Karo does contain HFCS, but it's mostly just regular corn syrup. Also, they recently introduced Karo light syrup. I am not sure what's in it exactly but I have heard that it doesn't have any HFCS.

I avoid HFCS for just the reasons mentioned above, but especially because 1) I don't want to support the companies that have gotten rich by buying cheap (taxpayer) subsidized corn and processing it into sub-par food and 2) The whole system of corn monoculture, from fertilization to processing uses a ton of fossil fuels

I baste roast poultry with a butter/dark corn syrup mix. It makes an amazing caramelized glaze on the bird. But in general we avoid processed foods as much as possible. I'm not worried about the amount of corn syrup in our diet per se, but it's one of the many ingredients in junk/packaged food that makes said edibles "junk."

I second miabica: Check out King Corn, a fascinating and very entertaining documentary about corn and all its incarnations.

Here is an article describing why HFCS is actually not good for us (besides the mercury. urgh!)

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2008/08/20/4274.html

OneEyedMan, the fact that a food is highly processed means that, as a general rule, more planetary resources have gone into producing it than a less-processed food, making the more processed food more wasteful to produce and usually more expensive for the consumer. Highly-processed food is also generally less nutritious than less-processed food; corn, for example, is high in protein (corn and beans together are a complete protein) and fiber when in its natural state. Corn syrup, on the other hand, has no nutritional value, just empty calories.

As for your almond extract example, the trace amount of cyanide in the natural extract is hardly enough to harm you, but any potential threat is due to the fact that the processing that the almonds have undergone has concentrated the toxin. Thus, again, the less-processed food is more wholesome than the highly-processed food. Your example refutes your argument.

I'm with kimg924 on this--I think sometimes people go a little overboard on demonizing HFCS. There are lots of reasons to avoid junk foods like packaged cookies and I'm actually more concerned about the trans fat content of that stuff than the HFCS in it. But either is enough reason to not eat it.

just a quick question regarding to corn syrup or HFCS...if one of these is asked in a baking recipe, can i substitute it with maple syrup and still get the same result? Alton Brown uses 1 tablespoon corn syrup to create caramel, which I don't mind because of its small amount. But I don't want to buy a bottle of corn syrup just for that purpose. I'd rather spend more on a good bottle of organic maple syrup and use it for other purposes as well. Help! Thanks!

if alton brown's recipe calls for corn syrup, use corn syrup. he probably uses it because it keeps the sugar in the caramel from crystallizing.

Michael Pollan is my hero.

I don't think anyone can reasonably argue this issue without first reading at least one of his books.

keep the processed food intake very low... otherwise you may get GERD like me and have to take a pill everyday and never be able to eat anything delicious again unless you want a tummy ache :( damn that citric acid...

I had horrible stomach problems. Reflux, vomiting, pain on a daily basis from the age of 17 until about age of 33. During that time, if I did not have daily high power prescription medication for the reflux I was so miserable that I considered cutting my body open to see what was wrong.
I developed asthma as an adult and was told that the acid reflux created the asthma due to the damage to my esophagus from the acid.
Then I discovered Splenda diet drinks. (the other diet drinks made me sick) I switched to diet coke with splenda. All of the problems went away, with only a few problems. I started avoiding corn syrup all together and now I do not have any problems at all. No more prescription medications, no more tums, Gavescon-my favorite- very foamy. etc...... none.
If you grab a Nathans hot dog on a bun with ketchup and relish all 4 items have corn syrup. I can choke down one.
Kosher dogs do not have corn syrup and I can devour two or three. Corn syrup in bread doesn't bother me much, pie filling is good with corn syrup. I try to get maple syrup for my pancakes.

Corn syrup ate my esophagus, made me vomit a lot, put me in a lot of pain and generally made my life miserable for 16 years.
I tried an experiment. I ate sugar cubes one day to see how many it took before they made me sick. It took 12 in two hours. (I was nibbling them) any fewer or more spread out and they did not bother me.
One hot dog with corn syrup and I am sick.

Has anyone else noticed that kids now drink soft drinks at young ages and there are advertisements for acid reflux medications for kids?

Technically a little corn syrup will not hurt you. However there are tons of products that have corn syrup in them.
salad dressing, ketchup, bread, soft drinks, crackers, meat products - hot dogs, bratwurst, and sausage. Relish, tv dinners, hot wings, orange juice, apple juice, granola bars, peanut butter, cereal, chocolate milk, and on, and on.

Corn is quite possibly the most ridiculous crop ever grown - the sheer amount of fertilizer and resources required to produce such a nominally nutritious food is mind boggling. That, and scientists have said corn is quite possibly the WORST crop to use in producing ethanol-based fuel.
Regardless of whether or not HFCS is hazardous to your heath, growing so much corn has done some major damage to our environment and economy.

I never believed much in the buying of organic and natural product without additives until i thought i was going to die because my stomache might explode... please people listen... feed your kids healthy foods and drinks... Although i am sure people who read this blog probably are pretty smart and already have healthy families, make no mistake that children will suffer in adult life if we let them eat crap and drink crap too often.

I don't use it, except when a recipe calls for it specifically, and I try to avoid it in foods, for two reasons:

Corn subsidies keep it cheap, but as demand for corn to produce ethanol has increased, subsidies haven't decreased.

Subsidies to the corn industry made corn syrup cheaper than sugar, and many companies made the switch. The BIG problem is that all of the sugar cane 'banana republics' that colonial-type interests (yes, including the US,) set up almost immediately experienced a serious economic crisis. If I recall correctly (and Sociology of Poverty was a long time ago, so I may not,) both Haiti and Manila are examples of this. We stopped buying sugar, and their economies bottomed out, causing all sorts of problems. Corn syrup isn't the only cause of this, mind you. About the same time, European interests switched over to sugar-beet sugar, and dumped excess on the world market. That said, the artificial propping up of the corn syrup industry did a HUGE amount of global economic damage.

I saw a great video about three college students who explain everything when it comes to HFCS, they move from New England to Iowa and explain EVERYTHING including all that has to do with the crops, the way the cows are fed, etc... It was a non biased documentary, but if you watch it I bet youll be checking for that HFCS and avoiding buying any products with it.

Wish I had the name, I saw the vid in my exes nutrition class 2 years ago.

Oh... its called "KING CORN"

Recommending along with miabica, elkit, and Domi to view the "King Corn" documentary. I found it thought-provoking and fun, and it doesn't hit you over the head with their conclusions as it presents a body of scientific facts, governmental policy and industry practices that add up to an unappetizing and unethical product.

The home chemistry project in which the filmmakers created HFCS from tasteless field corn serves as a memorable example of what a non-food it is.

The documentary also delves into the corn-into-beef industry, from which one can draw conclusions about other corn-based animal feed and other corn-fed animal products. Yowza.

Pass me the agave syrup, pure maple syrup, and raw honey, please.

HCFS is poison in the amounts we consume it these days. Worst of all, Corn syrup doesn't register in the brain's sweet sensors so you end up eating it forever!
Try it yourself. Eat something sweetened with real sugar. I bet you'll find an "enough-no more" point. Then try it again with HFCS. Bet you'll keep eating and the calories will keep stacking up without even triggering the satisfaction sense. Coke vs Mexican Coke is a great way to try this...and when you have someone else pour it into a glass you;ll never know which is which...instant blind study!
Goes a long way to explaining the reason we're all so fat, doesn't it?

High Fructose Corn Syrup is also made from genetically modified corn. The health hazards of GM foods are heavily debated, however I don't personally feel comfortable eating GM food products. If you feel the same way, avoid HFCS.

Also, most of this GM corn comes from Monsanto Corporation which has shady ethical practices at best. For more information watch The Future of Food.

If every acre of farmland that is used to grow corn for high fructose syrup was instead used to raise something that is actually edible, we could feed the world.

This is a wealth of details I desperately needed to know. A lot of great insight here, from a knowledgeable community. I just logged onto the King Corn site and will go watch it.

Lizliterarius, you have solved a years-long ongoing family debate in your differentiating the Mexican vs. US Coke; we spend summers in Baja and have marveled since childhood at how "different" Coke tastes South of the border (is it just cuz we're on vacation that it seems so much better?). As an adult I notice that unlike the Coke in the States, down there I often cannot finish an entire bottle before it gets warm. Now I know why... my body is "sugared out." Interesting!

Canadian coke has sugar instead of corn syrup too.