Sugar Alert – Corn Ball Logic
Dean L. Jones, C.P.M.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is added too often into many packaged items as the main sweetener. However, anyone eating such should be aware about the clear science that HFCS is strongly attributed to increasing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. Nevertheless, the marketing campaign put forth by the corn industry continues to get bigger and bigger in order to convince consumers that it is not hazardous when eaten or drunk.
Even the federal government’s Food and Drug Administration department is in a legal battle against the Corn Refiners Association to prevent a formal name change of HFCS to corn syrup. The corn industry’s aim is to be considered the same as table sugar. Well, the sad thing is both are bad and HFCS is plainly worst when it comes to the effects on healthy eating. HFCS is a highly processed liquid derived from corn starch, where food manufactures use it to lengthen the amount of time their product will last without setting up bacteria, plus HFCS is much cheaper than granulated sugar.
Our bodies use glucose for energy and it is a simple sugar form that is transported through the blood flow. A person inflicted with the disease called diabetics must regularly test their blood sugar and it is the glucose they are measuring. Too much fructose ruins the body’s ability to stimulate insulin secretion or require insulin to be transported by the blood into the cells. Among other ill-effects on health, fructose is considered an unregulated starter source for developing damaging fatty acids in the body. Although over consumption of fructose has many dangers, the excessive fatty alone is enough evidence disclosing the false claim by the corn industry that ‘sugar is sugar’ and that corn sugar is natural and safe, provided it’s consumed in moderation.
There are a number of television commercials and print advertisements sharing that false claim that sugar is sugar, making it what I
call an extremely corn ball and screwy logic as nothing could be further from the truth. This false claim is the same as making the comparison that the sugar found naturally in vegetables and fruits are the same as a manufactured substance placed in a packaged item. The body is designed to digest the natural sugar contained in fruits and vegetables that contain fructose and sucrose, where it is not designed what so ever to properly digest processed products.
The American Heart Association reveals sound logic about eating processed sugar stating that women should consume no more than 100
calories and men no more than 150 calories a day. That is very low daily maximums when you consider that 100 calories is about 6 teaspoons of processed sugar for women and 150 calories is 9 teaspoons of processed sugar for men.
Mr. Jones is a marketing strategist with the Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), sharing his view on
mismanagement practices of packaged foods & beverages.