a patriotic make-over for the USA's favourite over-used ingredient!

[foxtongue]

A new name for high fructose corn syrup:

The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make the syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with ad campaigns promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient "corn sugar," arguing that a name change is the only way to clear up consumer confusion about the product.

"Clearly the name is confusing consumers," said Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, in an interview.

"I’m not eager to help the corn refiners sell more of their stuff," Dr. Nestle wrote in an e-mail. "But you have to feel sorry for them. High-fructose corn syrup is the new trans fat. Everyone thinks it’s poison, and food companies are getting rid of it as fast as they can."

Although food label changes aren’t common, the F.D.A. has allowed name changes in the past. The ingredient first called “low erucic acid rapeseed oil” was changed to “canola oil” in the 1980s. More recently, the F.D.A. allowed prunes to be called “dried plums.”

Comments

[mordicai.livejournal.com]

But nobody eats glucose. Or freaks out about fruit or honey. Or well-- sucrose has carcinogenic effects as well. My point is-- HFCS is bad for you, definitely. So are lots of the alternatives, that are being embraced in the margins of HFCS. When the better option is NEITHER.

[fluffymcdeath.livejournal.com]

sucrose is a disaccharide composed of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose. The bond between the two monoscaccharides is broken down during digestion to sucrose is 50/50 glucose/fructose. HFCS used for regular sweetening is 45/55 glucose/sucrose. Sucrose is not a good thing but HFCS is worse as it's the fructose that does the damage.

"Long-term fructose intake is also associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which is another manifestation of the metabolic syndrome."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805058/?tool=pmcentrez

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

HFCS may not be worse than sugar unless you're one of about 1/3 of people (!) who suffer from fructose malabsorption and have no idea what's causing their diarrhea, depression, headaches, and sugar cravings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption