Many children growing up in the U.S. today are overweight, or at least weigh more than they should be for their age. I’m not even 40 yet and I can still remember back to my grade school days when there were only a couple of kids in the whole school that were really overweight, and most kids were skinny as a rail. Today you only have to go to your local mall or other teen hangout to see that times have changed. There are many factors involved here but today I’m going to try to shed some light on Corn Syrup or High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which has made a hefty difference in the diets of children in this country.
Although invented much earlier, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) was really introduced in the mid 70’s, and then became heavily popular in the 80’s when it eventually replaced sugar in almost all processed foods and drinks. Most conventional grocery stores sell primarily processed foods outside of the meager produce section. Next time you go shopping at a conventional grocery store take a closer look at the ingredients in some of your regular items. You’ll likely see that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), or some form of it is surprisingly high on the list of ingredients in a wide variety of food products. Ketchup, jelly, fruit juice, Gatorade, most soda, waffle syrup, salad dressing, and energy drinks, are just a few examples of things that you would think might be somewhat natural, but aren’t. They are all powered by HFCS, typically one of the main ingredients.
Corn also known as Maize is very common in the U.S. If you drive through the Midwest you will see miles and miles of nothing but corn. All of this corn has to go somewhere, and with the help of the Corn Refiners Association, it does. Where there is big money, there is also propaganda, advertising, lobbyist, and government. It’s cheap to grow, and cheap to buy. There is nothing wrong with natural corn which has many uses and forms such as delicious popcorn. However in its dumbed-down commercialized U.S. version, corn is not all it can be, and in many cases like HFCS corn is more than it should be.
So what is so bad about HFCS you might wonder? It does come from good ol’ corn after all, right? Well yes, but HFCS is not so natural and wholesome. I’m no chemist but I know that HFCS is a result of a complex refining and genetic modifying process which is done in a pollution emitting factory. This cheaper sugar alternative works out great for soda manufacturers and other processed food companies who save millions using it as a sugar replacement and preservative. Unfortunately this savings comes at the expense of your health!
Since HFCS is not sugar it is likely that the body does not metabolize it in the same way that it does natural sugar. You would think most people would have learned by now that pretty much all sugar substitutes are bad. Saccharin causes cancer, Aspartame (NutraSweet) has been linked to Alzheimer’s, Xylitol is poisonous to dogs, and Splenda the latest craze is highly controversial? HFCS doesn’t get the same bad rep as these other sugar substitutes because it isn’t designed or marketed to be a healthy sweet substitution like the others. The products it resides in are generally not diet or low fat foods. People who eat and drink products containing HFCS generally aren’t concerned about their health, so why would they complain about something that tastes like sugar and acts like sugar².
For those of us who are concerned about our health one solution is to stop buying products that contain HFCS. If consumers boycott HFCS, and instead purchase products that contain natural sugar or cane sugar, then eventually manufacturers will have to go back to making products with real sugar the way nature intended. Some products like jelly bought from a farmers market might have nothing more than crushed fruit, which is really all you need. Fruit is nature’s candy, why the smuckers would anyone corn-coat it?
If you are concerned about eating real sugar, don’t be. Deprogram yourself from the media and diet fads so you can reevaluate what your body really needs. Protein, carbs, and sugars are natural ingredients to a healthy body and diet, especially for energetic growing kids. Too much sugar can be a bad thing, but too much HFCS is likely much worse. You wouldn’t sprinkle sugar on your salad would you? If not then why would cover it in salad dressing that is loaded with HFCS? Knowing is half the battle. Being selective and educated about what, when, and how much you eat is the key to winning the battle. To learn more than you’ll ever want to know about HFCS read this three part blog posting. Part-1, Part-2, Part-3.
Most school cafeterias today have vending machines serving up HFCS in the form of processed drinks, food, and candy to the kids of Generation Corn Syrup. It’s not like the old days when the only option was a brown bag or a school lunch that included the 4 food groups. When I was in elementary school milk was the only option for a drink, and we could only have chocolate milk on Wednesdays. Today’s kids seem to eat whatever they want and their choices are usually influenced by what their friends are eating or what they see on TV. Don’t leave it up to the schools, government, media, or other kids to teach your kids what to eat. Take it upon yourself to learn what is and isn’t good to eat, and then pass this information down to your kids so you don’t end up raising Children of the Corn Syrup.
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