Sugar and high fructose syrup from corn are blamed for diseases including obesity and diabetes.
Liquid sweetener made with HFCS is broadly used in food production because it is more economic to make than sugar, helps stabilized foods, allows for better browning of baked goods and provides more concentrated sweetness than the same amount of sugar. But as it is well known, it has a dark side.
Recently, sugar producers file a suit high fructose corn syrup for battling over which is more harmful for our heath. They accuse HFCS for false advertising that mentioned it is as “nutritionally the same as table sugar”. But they argue that HFCS is not as healthy as sugar. Adam Fox, an attorney of the sugar industry plaintiffs, led by Western Sugar Corp. said, the corn industry promoters “characterized HFCS as a natural product. It is not – it is man-made. Yet they are advertising it as identical to sugar cane and sugar beets.”
The association representing corn producers, processors and distributors has tried to change their name – high fructose corn syrup to “corn sugar” in labeling.
Actually, several decades ago people have been arguing about the health effect of the HFCS, because it’s rapid and ubiquitous spread of the sweetener in food production. But recently, the harmfulness of HFCS has been bandied through pop culture.
The sugar industry argues that the penetration of the synthesized corn sweetener in sodas, condiments, bread, cookies, jam and syrups contributes the rise in obesity and diabetes among Americans. Against this lawsuit, the corn producers defends that there is nothing dishonest about their advertising and they will prove it in court. Dan K. Webb, the attorney for the corn industry said, “Good science proves that obesity is caused by the the overconsumption of calories from any source, not from one ingredient, USDA data shows that consumption of high fructose corn syrup has actually been in decline, while obesity rates are rising. It is just wrong for the plaintiffs to claim that high fructose corn syrup is uniquely responsible for obesity.”
According to statics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, American spent an average of 47 pound of sugar per person in 2010, add 35 pound of HFSC, which are more than three times the sweeter intake per person elsewhere in the world.
Michael I. Goran, director of the Child Obesity Research Center at USC mentioned, “there’s definitely a difference in metabolic fate and outcome of fructose ingestion relative to glucose," and noting that high fructose corn syrup contains more of the former ingredient, as its name implies. "So the more you tip the scale toward fructose, the more those negative effects kick in."
He said, the percentage of fructose in HFCS is more than the percentage of it in table sugar made from cane or beets, so HFCS can elevate blood sugar levels more swiftly. What he wanted to emphasis is not which one has more calories.
James S. Turner, a Washington attorney who heads Citizens for Health, which has battled for sugar industry mentioned, he and his group “are not arguing against high fructose corn syrup, we are arguing that the public understands that it and sugar are different things and to try to cloud that over is a mistake. All we want is for the public to be able to distinguish a product they don't want to buy."
According to FDA spokeswoman, THE petition of corn industry for the name change is still pending before the agency and we are actively working on it.
