Dr. Sabrina Segal

We’ve heard the pitfalls of foods sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Food manufacturers use it as a lost cost equivalent to sugar. Despite that corn syrup makes just about everything taste better, studies show that the sweetener is being abused and is linked to the growing obesity issue in America.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is the main sweetener in processed beverages like sodas, fruit drinks, cakes and gooey snacks.

The resulting link between corn syrup and obesity is being dumbed-down by health institutions, such as the American Medical Association, that recently stated high fructose corn syrup should not be singled out as an obesity culprit, since other high calorie sweeteners also have a hand in skyrocketing obesity among the young and old.

Enter the ad campaign from the folks who bring you high fructose corn syrup.

First there is a website, HFCSfacts.com, extolling the virtues of the corn-based sweetener backed by a media blitz capitalizing on the fact that the sweetener has no artificial ingredients.

This, brought to your table by the Corn Refiners Association, which has invested in the campaign to change the image of their sweetening product. Although high fructose supplanted sugar as the most consumed sweetener by the 1990s, its popularity has waned in years. Now, sugar growers, corn syrup manufacturers, the sugar and corn lobbies and others impacted by the processed foods industry seek to stem the tide of ‘fattening’ publicity and re-grow the market for lost cost, high margin corn syrup.

And now, the consumer barraged with a parade of media telling us it’s OK to enjoy high fructose corn syrup. It may even be healthy!

Will a campaign like this change your mind about corn syrup consumption? Do you prefer real sugar over high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener? Do you read the ingredients labels on your foods? Do you know how much of the sugary stuff you ingest every day? (about 40 lbs. a year for Americans according to the USDA). Are you aware of zero calorie sweeteners and their impact on general health?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal