Something I learned today ...

[pow]

False. HFCS has been linked to low metabolism and obesity recently. HFCS is not "man-made honey." It is man-made, but it involves quite a bit of chemistry to obtain. It is not natural, and like most synthetic food additives, they are finally starting to realize that there are unintended health issues associated with it.

Now you want to talk about sugar. Tooth decay? Please. Brush your teeth and you won't have that problem. I'm not even talking about the refined white sugar. That stuff is bad, just like anything with "refined, white" in its title. Natural sugar (think: Sugar in the Raw) is a lot less unhealthy for you than HFCS or even refined white sugar. Of course, it doesn't dissolve as easily as the refined sugars do, so manufacturers don't like using it as much.

But don't think for a second that HFCS is just some innocuous "man-made honey" because it is not. That's like saying partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (trans fats) is "man-made lard." Our bodies were not made to process these synthetic chemicals, and as a result they have unintended health consequences that are worse than the natural alternative in almost every case.

You'd hope that people would just use "food" to make "food." Really, we're toying (mostly unwittingly) with the unknown, using our bodies as test subjects to see just how "harmless" these synthetic additives, pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics can be. It's no mere coincidence that new cancers and birth defects are on the rise. This is unchartered territory.

[Blake Noble]

You'd hope that people would just use "food" to make "food." Really, we're toying (mostly unwittingly) with the unknown, using our bodies as test subjects to see just how "harmless" these synthetic additives, pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics can be. It's no mere coincidence that new cancers and birth defects are on the rise. This is unchartered territory.

Agreed.

[Croc]

You lost me. HFCS isn't some toxic waste scraped from under the dumpsters of toxic waste plants, it's a combination of fructose and glucose, both of which occur naturally in plants. The HFCS they use to make pop is what's called HFCS 55 since it contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose; roughly the same concentrations of fructose and glucose as honey. If you want to compare that to regular sugar, regular sugar breaks down to 50% fructose and 50% glucose.

I never said it originated from toxic goo, but that it is a synthetic chemical, used as a food additive, which it is. Glucose and fructose do occur naturally in plants, especially fruits. But when you isolate those compounds, there's processing taking place. And when you combine them into HFCS, that's even more processing taking place. Fact is that fresh and natural is ALWAYS more nutritional than processed. And with recent evidence mounting, the combination of fructose and glucose into HFCS 55 has some negative metabolic effects. They make you gain weight. Now, you might get fructose and glucose in an apple, but you aren't going to have a link between apples and weight gain because the fructose and glucose are naturally-occurring in apples and enter your body with other things, like fiber and antioxidants.

ETA: In order to create HFCS there is at least one genetically-modified enzyme required.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Croc