Ok, so many of you have probably already seen the High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) commercials that have been running on TV the last couple weeks. Their stating that HFCS should not be made the villain and that its a perfectly healthy food. The commercial is below. Watch it and then read our take on it…
Hmmm…
- Made from Corn
- No artificial ingredients
- Fine in Moderation
Let’s look at these.
Made from Corn… well yes but its not corn, nor is it fructose from corn. It’s not natural at all, it is a synthetic food that is made chemically out of glucose that has been extracted from corn that in turn has been enzymatically converted to fructose then mixed back with glucose again. Hence, the body does not react to it the same way that it reacts to natural sugars or even table sugar. Plus, I can think of many natural things, and things made from natural things, that I wouldn’t put in my mouth or body.
No artificial ingredients… Well here’s how they make it. You tell me if this sounds natural???
1. Cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called oligosaccharides.
2. Glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose.
3. Xylose isomerase (aka glucose isomerase) converts glucose to a mixture of about 42% fructose and 50–52% glucose with some other sugars mixed in. While inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry and used only once, the more costly glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it, allowing it to be used repeatedly until it loses its activity.
4. This 42–43% fructose glucose mixture is then subjected to a liquid chromatography step where the fructose is enriched to approximately 90%.
5. The 90% fructose is then back-blended with 42% fructose to achieve a 55% fructose final product.
6. Most manufacturers use carbon absorption for impurity removal. Numerous filtration, ion-exchange and evaporation steps are also part of the overall process.
I wonder if that’s how God (or Mother Nature) makes real sugar?
"It’s Fine In Moderation"… Remember when Coke used to come in 6 ounce bottles (for the record that was long before my time), then 8 ounces, then 12, now 20 ounces. That’s three and a half times bigger. I never see 12 ounce bottles of Coke anymore unless you’re buying cans in bulk… 12 pack, 18-pack, cases, flats, etc. And fountains?? You get the 22 ouncer only if you’re a big sissy! Otherwise it’s 32, 48 and the 60 if you’re real messed up! You’ve heard it before… the next one up is "only 10 cents more." Does moderation still exist these days?
Today, if I were not to have followed the Athlon Elite diet plan of natural meats, veggies, starches and fruits, I probably would have had some Pop-Tarts for breakfast (loaded with HFCS), a granola bar for mid-day snack (loaded with HFCS), a sandwich and chips and maybe a cookie for lunch (bread, chips and cookies are loaded with HFCS), Cheez-Itz for a snack (these have corn syrup instead, which some would argue is even worse because that’s what you get in step 2 above),… you get the picture here?
Moderation is fine but try to moderate in this society. It’s more challenging than you think to go a day without HFCS. If you’re a parent, like the one’s in the video above, just try at your kids next party to only pour ONE 8-ounce glass of punch per kid. How do you think that will go over???