Soda Pop Sluts: Take Two

In my book Unfrosted, I make no secret of my loathing for HFCS and processed food. However, in the interest of fair play, let's examine the latest goings-on regarding high fructose corn syrup.  Sometimes it's hard to spot manipulation, by virtue of its definition, but for the truly paranoid like me, there's rumblings in the processed food industry. They're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Their golden child, HFCS, has been beaten to a pulp by the current schoolyard heroes: foodies, chefs, organic farmers, nutritionists, Michael Pollan, me.  When everyone from morning show hosts to network news and even Facebook pages tout the evils of HFCS, it's well known. Raven's definition of irrelevant and uninteresting is when news hits the mainstream media but at least it's put a spotlight on HFCS.  So they're fighting back:

The Corn Refiners Association has poured more than $30 million into ads to prop up their baby.  Unfortunately, more people have seen the parodies on youtube.com than the ads themselves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYiEFu54o1E&feature=related .  There's also a lot of scientists and nutritionists, even Marion Nestle, who wrote "What to Eat", who are saying there's no discernible difference between HFCS and sugar.

Then, ConAgra, possibly the biggest processed food producer in the world, along with Kraft, Pepsico and a host of others, are now making products with sugar, rather than HFCS, bending to market pressure. Hunt's ketchup, Garorade, Kraft salad dressing, Wheat Thins and many more are now reformulated and even though it costs them more, they aren't passing that cost on to consumers, according to Michael Locascio, ConAgra exec. (This is no time to dive into sugar tariffs and corn subsidies and why sugar costs more, Goldman Sachs, lobbyists, black hearts and gold bars, another post, perhaps.)  Isn't it nice they care so much about their customers?  Hmm. When the sharks climb into the boat, you have to look at what's in the water.  In that sea of doubt, there's a couple of new clinical studies about HFCS.  To wit:

When a person's liver is deciding what to do with glucose, it has options: use it for energy, convert it into triglycerides or store it as fat.  A 2008 study by Elizabeth Parks at University of Texas SW Med Center and another by Peter Havel at UC Davis found that HFCS consumers showed an increase in intra-abdominal fat, the kind that embeds itself between tissues in organs, is less sensitive to insulin and creates elevated blood levels of lipids, or LDL, bad cholesterol. So much for ConAgra's kinder gentler reformulation.

That's enough research for me, and probably for you.  It backs up what I've always said:  eat natural stuff, even sugar.  Yes, sugar is refined too, but not in the manner of high fructose corn syrup.  When there's this much controversy, go back to the smoke and fire analogy.  Don't eat HFCS and processed food!!  As always, the caveat is the same however: knock off the sweet stuff period.  Sugar and HFCS are the same when it comes to weight gain.  Put down the Coke and pick up the water.

That's the end of Take Two, and there won't be a three on this one.  Take care of yourself.

Raven

Soda Pop Sluts - An Unfrosted FairyTale

Once upon a time, in the land of USA, the farmers were happy and productive.  They were so productive, especially with the golden ears of corn they grew, that soon they surpassed even the king's wildest dreams of how much corn they could possibly grow.  All the greatest wizards in the land put their heads together to figure out what was to be done with all that huge surplus of corn.  Mounds of the stuff were molding away all over the land and it was expensive to ship, not to mention smelling bad.

Well, it didn't take too long.  Corn can be made into syrup, specifically "high fructose corn syrup".  The wizards then discovered HFCS, as they lovingly called their creation for short, can be put into almost anything that people eat, in place of sugar and more cheaply, too.  It's especially wonderful for sodas, which the people loved.

Another group of wizards was involved in making food fast, packaged, processed and convenient.  At first they started with simple stuff, but once they discovered HFCS, they put it just about everything they made, and discovered the people loved it just as much as the sodas they drank when they ate it.


There were a  couple of wizards who kept droning on about nutrition and obesity and a responsibility towards the health of the people, but they were quietly and efficiently turned out of the kingdom by the court jesters who made advertisements.  Nobody wants to listen to boring statistics when they're eating cheeseburgers, French fries and sugar-coated cereals, not to mention the great taste of Coke and Pepsi.

The king and his advisors gave lots of money to the farmers to keep growing way too much corn, (called subsidies) so the food processors could make HFCS and put it in lots and lots of foods, and those royal edicts continue to this very day.

So, in the land of USA even today, some thirty years later or so, a few people are richer, and everyone is happy, and...much fatter, spending more time going to doctors and worrying about their cholesterol and blood pressure. (Television and video games helped a lot with that too, cause it's really fun to sit on your ass, eat chips and dips and wash it down with gallons of HFCS sweetened soda.  Hello worried populace on diets, and goodbye to playing outside.)

Since I wrote this in my book Unfrosted: Get Real about Food and Fitness, HFCS has become a buzzword for the American public, worried about obesity.  I wanted to know what had changed, if anything, so I'm doing some research on the chemical breakdown of sweeteners in general, and HFCS in particular, checking clinical studies and public reaction.  I'll post these findings soon, but don't worry, the wasp hasn't lost its sting.  In the meanwhile, drink water, real lemonade, tea and uh..vodka.

Love, Raven