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Guess Who Funds High Fructose Corn Syrup Studies?

corn syrup, root beer, sodaAds hyping high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have been hitting the airwaves as part of a major marketing campaign from the Corn Refiners Association.

Critics say HFCS contributes to weight gain and tricks your body into wanting to eat more. But the industry says it’s just fine, and argues that HFCS is the same as sugar.

To get that message out, the campaign relies on nutritional research. But funding for many of the major studies in question came from companies with a financial stake in the outcome.

Out of the six studies on the Corn Refiners Association’s Web site that “Confirm High Fructose Corn Syrup [is] No Different From Sugar,” three were sponsored by groups that stand to profit from research that promotes HFCS. Two were never published, so their funding sources are unclear. And one was sponsored by a Dutch foundation that represents the interests of the sugar industry.

Pepsi funded one study. So did a D.C. based lobbying group that gets their money from food, chemical and drug companies. And the American Beverage Association gave a grant for another.

Sources:

Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

It’s a widely known fact that when a study is sponsored by a company with financial interests in the outcome, the results rarely do anything but support the industry that funded the study..

In fact, CBS mentions a study by Children’s Hospital Boston that found when studies were sponsored exclusively by food or drinks companies, the results were four to eight times more likely to be favorable to the sponsoring company.

So when the Corn Refiners Association claims that their deceptive $20-30 million ad campaign promoting corn syrup is “based on nutritional research,” now you know just what type of biased research they are using.

Is Corn Syrup “the Same as Sugar”?

The Corn Refiners Association has launched TV commercials and a Web site that claim corn syrup is no worse for you than sugar. In one ad, a mother pours some type of bright red corn-syrup-rich juice from a plastic jug. In another, a woman feeds her boyfriend a popsicle.

In both ads, characters question the health risks of corn syrup, but neither is able to explain exactly why corn syrup is unhealthy, implying that corn syrup is actually not so bad after all.

To imply that artificial products containing corn syrup are in any way OK for your health is beyond a stretch. So let’s set the record straight. If anyone asks YOU why corn syrup is unhealthy, you can tell them:

• HFCS is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar, and, because most fructose is consumed in liquid form (soda), its negative metabolic effects are significantly magnified.

• Recent research, reported at the 2007 national meeting of the American Chemical Society, found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS may contribute to the development of diabetes because it contains high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown to trigger cell and tissue damage that cause diabetes.

• HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns, such as increasing your risk of developing a food allergy to corn.

You can also let anyone who believes corn syrup is safe to eat know that there are over 35 years of hard empirical evidence that refined man-made fructose like HFCS metabolizes to triglycerides and adipose tissue, not blood glucose. The downside of this is that fructose does not stimulate your insulin secretion, nor enhance leptin production. (Leptin is a hormone thought to be involved in appetite regulation.)

Because insulin and leptin act as key signals in regulating how much food you eat, as well as your body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased food intake and weight gain.

Additionally, fructose is also known to significantly raise your triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterol). Triglycerides, the chemical form of fat found in foods and in your body, are not something you want in excess amounts.

Intense research over the past 40 years has confirmed that elevated blood levels of triglycerides, known as hypertriglyceridemia, puts you at an increased risk of heart disease.

How to Cut HFCS Out of Your Diet

If you are eating a healthy diet, a little bit of corn syrup here or there isn’t going to cause any catastrophes. However, most people are not eating corn syrup in moderation. In 2007, Americans consumed an average of 56 pounds of HFCS each, according to CBS! A large part of this was undoubtedly from soda, which is the number one source of calories in the United States.

So the first step for many people is to stop drinking soda, and this turbo tapping technique can help you to break free from a soda addiction.

I am HIGHLY confident that giving up soda would result in health improvements FAR more profound than if everyone stopped smoking. This is because drinking soda leads to elevated insulin levels, the foundation of nearly every chronic disease known to man -- cancer, heart disease, diabetes, aging, arthritis, osteoporosis, you name it, and you will find elevated insulin levels as a primary factor.

Aside from soda, corn syrup is also in many processed foods and fruit juices, so to avoid it completely you need to focus your diet on whole foods. And if you do purchase any processed foods, make sure you read the label … and put it back on the shelf if it lists high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (34)
 
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
As usual, ......follow the money$$$$$.  I have seen the ad along with my children and they pointed out the hypocrisy and inaccuracies as well.  We are currently having an ongoing discussion (usually in the car!) about the United Nations, the world's food supply and the the WHO.  Keep talking to your kids and grand kids even at a young age.  They hunger for knowledge and knowledge is power. 

mamabear

 
mama bear
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 6/2006
mama bear  
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CSR
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 8/2007
CSR  
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
That's great!  I wish my parents had this type of information to share with me when I was younger, but I'm grateful to have it now at the ripe young age of 26. ;-)  I don't have children, but I do have loved ones who I am constantly relaying information to.


All Under Heaven
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 2/2008
All Under Heaven  
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
Of course, mamabear. Well, I'm not a dad yet, but yes, knowledge is power. A sharp mind is power.

Industry has always has some kind of leverage over any study because of health issues either directly or indirectly. They can't ever be trusted, because they're the ones on the line. And they'd much rather protect their own interests and keep themselves in business. Government loves big business, so it always helps them.




askwhy
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2008
askwhy  
 
Posted On Feb 15, 2009

I don't watch much mainstream so I just recently saw one of these ads. My first thought was 'unbelievable!' But think about it, they are obviously seeing a rise in people being educated about the food products they are selling. The grocery store shelves are not lined with food but garbage. Could it be that there is enough momentum behind this knowledge that they are growing concerned? To the point that they are actually spending the time and money on commercials. This is a good sign. It's like the labels on some milk products that read ' No significant difference has been shown in milk from cows treated with rbst and non-rbst cows'. The same milk may also be labeled, 'Milk from cows not treated with rbst'. Now think about that. You now have consumers that don't have a clue what their drinking saying "I wonder what this rbst is anyway?" If they have half a brain cell left they go home and look it up. Bingo! One more person educated about growth hormones. That is why Monsanto fought so hard to keep any labeling from products. The commercials themselves are almost laughable. "high fructose corn syrup is ok in moderation". So the consumer gets up and looks through their cupboards...Yowzer! It's in everything! That's hardly moderation. Really, this is one for our side.    


 
 
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
My bottom jaw was laying on the floor after seeing the first one of these commercial ads. I had to ask my husband if I had heard it correctly. Unfortunately, I did!

Of course the people who have a money interest in HFCS, MSG or any other money making 'poison' is going to say it's ok for you.

Thanks to websites like mercola.com, the real truth is finally getting out to the public and the people who are profiting at the expense of others health are starting to get scared.

 
WellnessMom
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 6/2006
WellnessMom  
 
 
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
I laughed the first time i saw it because i thought it was a joke; then i was angry when i realized it wasn't.  People need to educate themselves and remember this very important saying, "Believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see" 

Knowledge is power, no one can take your education away from you.  The internet holds anything you want to research and almost everyone has access (public libraries are free remember). 

 
jpants83
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 6/2008
jpants83  
 
 
 
Posted On Oct 21, 2008

For a great book that explains how HFCS and other common food additives are made, read 'Twinkie Deconstructed' by Steve Etlinger.  It explains that 8 of the 40 ingredients of Twinkies are made from corn, and that HFCS is made from corn and industrial waste.

It explains that additives such as Sorbic Acid, Red 40, Blue 2, ferrous sulfate, and most other common ingredients are made from natural gas, crude oil, and industrial waste.  Many of these food additives are made by only one or two companies worldwide.  Most of these companies are owned by the British, German, Chinese, and French; a few are U.S. owned companies.

After reading the book, and a couple of others that many on this forum have discussed, you will realize that you cannot buy food from supermarkets that does not contain ingredients made from several forms of petroleum derivatives and industrial waste.  Even fresh fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides and fertilzers made from petroleum derivatives and toxic industrail waste.  I defy a person to find ONE item at the supermarket that does not contain petroleum and industrial waste as an intentional additive.

Prior to the environmental movement in the U.S., industrial waste was dumped into rivers, oceans, landfills.  Now that that has become expensive due to EPA regulations, it has become profitable to find other ways of disposing of the waste.  Industry figured out how to change their liability into a profit by selling the waste to food manufacturers and other consumer goods manufacturers.

I think that this should bee the over-riding conern in ANY AND ALL conversations about nutrition, and in particular the safety of HFCS.  Any food requiring the combiination of corn, petroleum and industrial waste, is by default, not good for us.  If the media would simply tell us how HFCS is made, there would be no further discussion, IMO.

And any questions regarding the safety of Red 40 and Blue 2 would also be answered, and the world could move on to other issues.  But, as we all know, the MSM will not do it.  When will the alternative media put this issue in the spotlight?


 
JamesMacPherson
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 10/2007
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Islander
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Islander  
 
Posted On Oct 21, 2008

James, last night on pubic radio, Terry Gross interviewed Michael Pollan, author of THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA and IN DEFENSE OF FOOD. He was specific in detailing how the age of industrial food is over because no one - not we, not anyone - can any longer afford the high energy costs to produce it. He advocates that we re-define "food" ...because so much of what we consume has no nourishment that we cannot accurately call it food. See more detail in his 8-page letter to the president-elect in the October 12 issue of the New York Times Magazine:

www.nytimes.com/.../12policy-t.html


 
 
 
Posted On Oct 07, 2008
I don't mean to look down on everyone's valid concerns, but we need to stop complaining about these commercials and start complaining about the amount of sugar that's in everything. 

I'm more worried about cereal, tomato sauce, and bread commercials. 

The structure of HFCS (55% fructose and 45% glucose) is slightly harder to process than normal sugar (50%/50%), but that's not the main issue here.  I just wrote an article about this if you all care to have a look. 

 
goodfriendsam
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 10/2008
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Mr.AK
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 6/2006
Mr.AK  
 
Posted On Oct 08, 2008
No Name - As someone who has been in the business a long time, I know that advertising is much more clever and devious than even intelligent, world-wise people realize - never underestimate them!


Duparc
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 5/2007
Duparc  
 
Posted On Oct 21, 2008

A good article and I subscribe to your point of view. I have been experimenting with diet for around 13 years and can confirm from personal experience and observation what you say. Thanks for the reference to the Web site.



taterbug1999
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2008
taterbug1999  
 
Posted On Oct 21, 2008

Let's be realisitic here, though.  The masses watch TV like zombies.  If it says it, then it's law.  For most people it just allows them to believe the pollution of their body is not really bad and allows them to keep on with their self destructive food choices and feel okay about it.  In reality, when I saw these commercials I was P***ED because if those fools in the commercials had asked me I could have given about a dozen solid reasons not to eat HFCS.  I wanted to scream!! Then I saw who was peddling the junk and realized what was going on.  The "crack dealers" bought air time to peddle their wares.  If a cocaine dealer ran a commercial telling us all that crack was A-OK would we buy it? I hope not, but this is what they are trying to peddle to a catatonic mass that is too overweight and too uncaring to educate themselves.



curious7
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 3/2007
curious7  
 
Posted On Oct 21, 2008

What is really frightening, is that many of these so called framers are growing GMO corn.  So the garbage derived is even more dangerous to our health.


 
 
 
 
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