The American Corn Refiners Association

I recently was told of a rather disturbing ad by Ms. Amy. She told me how she saw an ad more or less promoting that HFCS was healthier for you than honey. I laughed thought it was ridiculous, and then I looked into it. Well, it is nothing to laugh about. The Corn Refiners Association has spent lots and lots of money with a campaign to convince the American public that it is "good for them, or at least no worse than other sweeteners for you."

Some interesting facts. First of all, HFCS is not good for you, and is one of the worst things you could put in your body. It isn't a nutrient! It contains no healthful benefits. Check out my links on the side of the page if you want more facts from reputable sources.

On a more interesting side note. There was just an article back in April 2008 about how the FDA and finally starting the new requirement of removing 'Natural" from the label of any food containing HFCS. I was so excited I thought the FDA was finally making a good decision. Well, shorting after that decision was made the CRA birthed its campaign. We are now in October, and in June 2008 only 2 months after the original decision was made to remove natural from the label, it was overturned. Now, the FDA does allow Natural on the label of products containing HFCS. The new ruling can be found on the CRA home page under www.HFCSfacts.com please don't read anything else on this webpage as it is filled with misleading information the quote scrolls in the home page and says:

"The Food and Drug Administration stated, referring to a process commonly used by the corn refining industry, that it "would not object to the use of the term 'natural' on a product containing the HFCS produced by [that] manufacturing process..." GA June, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (Letter to Corn Refiners Assocation, July 3, 2008.).

The original article on the FDA decision in April can be found here: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Regulation/HFCS-is-not-natural-says-FDA

Needless to say don't be fooled by ads or even by the FDA decisions. If you are curious about the refining process of HFCS please read here: http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

Or information on the actual sweetener check out the Debra lynn Dadd link and look for her sugar page.

Here are the warnings wikipedia had for it:

There are a number of relevant studies published in peer reviewed journals suggesting a link between high fructose diets and adverse health effects^{[citation needed]}. Studies on the effect of fructose, as reviewed by Elliot et al.,^[18] implicate increased consumption of fructose (due primarily to the increased consumption of sugars but also partly due to the slightly higher fructose content of HFCS as compared to sucrose) in obesity and insulin resistance. Chi-Tang Ho et al. found that soft drinks sweetened with HFCS are up to 10 times richer in harmful carbonyl compounds, such as methylglyoxal, than a diet soft drink control.^[19] Carbonyl compounds are elevated in people with diabetes and are blamed for causing diabetic complications such as foot ulcers and eye and nerve damage;^[20][21] Furthermore, a study in mice suggests that fructose increases obesity.^[22] Large quantities of fructose stimulate the liver to produce triglycerides, promotes glycation of proteins and induces insulin resistance.^[23] According to one study, the average American consumes nearly 70 pounds of HFCS per annum, marking HFCS as a major contributor to the rising rates of obesity in the last generation. ^[24]

A 2007 study also raised concerns of possible liver damage as a result of HFCS in combination with a high fat diet and a sedentary lifestyle.^[25]

I could write a book from the information on the CRA website, so look for more posts.