5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You

The current media debate about the benefits (or lack of harm) of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in our diet misses the obvious. The average American increased their consumption of HFCS (mostly from sugar sweetened drinks and processed food) from zero to over 60 pounds per person per year. During that time period, obesity rates have more than tripled and diabetes incidence has increased more than seven fold. Not perhaps the only cause, but a fact that cannot be ignored.

Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency. These are used skillfully through massive print and television advertising campaigns by the Corn Refiners Association’s attempt to dispel the “myth” that HFCS is harmful and assert through the opinion of “medical and nutrition experts” that it is no different than cane sugar. It is a “natural” product that is a healthy part of our diet when used in moderation.

Except for one problem. When used in moderation it is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay and more.

Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?

The goal of the corn industry is to call into question any claim of harm from consuming high fructose corn syrup, and to confuse and deflect by calling their product natural “corn sugar”. That’s like calling tobacco in cigarettes natural herbal medicine. Watch the slick ad where a caring father walks hand in hand with his four-year-old daughter through a big question mark carved in an idyllic cornfield.

“Like any parent I have questions about the food my daughter eats – like high fructose corn syrup. So I started looking for answers from medical and nutrition experts, and what I discovered whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar. Knowing that makes me feel better about what she eats and that’s one less thing to worry about.”

Physicians are also targeted directly. I received a 12-page color glossy monograph from the Corn Refiners Association reviewing the “science” that HFCS was safe and no different than cane sugar. I assume the other 700,000 physicians in America received the same propaganda at who knows what cost.

In addition to this, I received a special “personal” letter from the Corn Refiner’s Association outlining every mention of the problems with HCFS in our diet – whether in print, blogs, books, radio or television. They warned me of the errors of my ways and put me on “notice”. For what I am not sure. To think they are tracking this (and me) that closely gives me an Orwellian chill.

New websites like www.sweetsurprise.com and www.cornsugar.com help “set us straight” about HFCS with quotes from professors of nutrition and medicine and thought leaders from Harvard and other stellar institutions.

But are these twisted sweet lies or a sweet surprise, as the Corn Refiners Association websites claim?

Let’s examine the science and insert some common sense into the conversation. These facts may indeed come as a sweet surprise. The ads suggest getting your nutrition advice from your doctor (who, unfortunately, probably knows less about nutrition than most grandmothers). Having studied this for over a decade, and having read, interviewed or personally talked with most of the “medical and nutrition experts” used to bolster the claim that “corn sugar” and cane sugar are essentially the same, quite a different picture emerges and the role of HCFS in promoting obesity, disease and death across the globe becomes clear.

Last week over lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames, one of the foremost nutritional scientists in the world and Dr. Jeffrey Bland, a nutritional biochemist, a student of Linus Pauling and I reviewed the existing science, and Dr. Ames shared shocking new evidence from his research center on how HFCS can trigger body-wide inflammation and obesity.

Here are 5 reasons you should stay way from any product containing high fructose corn syrup and why it may kill you.

1. Sugar in any form causes obesity and disease when consumed in pharmacologic doses.

Cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup are indeed both harmful when consumed in pharmacologic doses of 140 pounds per person per year. When one 20 ounce HFCS sweetened soda, sports drink or tea has 17 teaspoons of sugar (and the average teenager often consumes two drinks a day) we are conducting a largely uncontrolled experiment on the human species. Our hunter gather ancestors consumed the equivalent of 20 teaspoons per year, not per day. In this sense, I would agree with the corn industry that sugar is sugar. Quantity matters. But there are some important differences.

2. HFCS and cane sugar are NOT biochemically identical or processed the same way by the body.

High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist, Michael Pollan to observe it for his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS.

Some basic biochemistry will help you understand this. Regular cane sugar (sucrose) is made of two-sugar molecules bound tightly together – glucose and fructose in equal amounts. The enzymes in your digestive tract must break down the sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body.

HFCS also consists of glucose and fructose, not in a 50-50 ratio, but a 55-45 fructose to glucose ratio in an unbound form. Fructose is sweeter than glucose. And HCFS is cheaper than sugar because of the government farm bill corn subsidies. Products with HFCS are sweeter and cheaper than products made with cane sugar. This allowed for the average soda size to balloon from 8 ounces to 20 ounces with little financial costs to manufacturers but great human costs of increased obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.

Now back to biochemistry. Since there is there is no chemical bond between them, no digestion is required so they are more rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol) this is why it is the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver” which affects 70 million people. The rapidly absorbed glucose triggers big spikes in insulin – our body’s major fat storage hormone. Both these features of HFCS lead to increased metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia and more.

But there was one more thing I learned during lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames. Research done by his group at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute found that free fructose from HFCS requires more energy to be absorbed by the gut and soaks up two phosphorous molecules from ATP (our body’s energy source). This depletes the energy fuel source or ATP in our gut required to maintain the integrity of our intestinal lining. Little “tight junctions” cement each intestinal cell together preventing food and bacteria from “leaking” across the intestinal membrane and triggering an immune reaction and body wide inflammation.

High doses of free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your blood stream and trigger the inflammation that we know is at the root of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia and accelerated aging. Naturally occurring fructose in fruit is part of a complex of nutrients and fiber that doesn’t exhibit the same biological effects as the free high fructose doses found in “corn sugar”.

The takeaway: Cane sugar and the industrially produced, euphemistically named “corn sugar” are not biochemically or physiologically the same.

3. HFCS contains contaminants including mercury that are not regulated or measured by the FDA

An FDA researcher asked corn producers to ship a barrel of high fructose corn syrup in order to test for contaminants. Her repeated requests were refused until she claimed she represented a newly created soft drink company. She was then promptly shipped a big vat of HFCS that was used as part of the study that showed that HFCS often contains toxic levels of mercury because of chlor-alkali products used in its manufacturing.(i) Poisoned sugar is certainly not “natural”.

When HFCS is run through a chemical analyzer or a chromatograph, strange chemical peaks show up that are not glucose or fructose. What are they? Who knows? This certainly calls into question the purity of this processed form of super sugar. The exact nature, effects and toxicity of these funny compounds have not been fully explained, but shouldn’t we be protected from the presence of untested chemical compounds in our food supply, especially when the contaminated food product comprises up to 15-20 percent of the average American’s daily calorie intake?

4. Independent medical and nutrition experts DO NOT support the use of HCFS in our diet, despite the assertions of the corn industry.

The corn industry’s happy looking websites www.cornsugar.com and www.sweetsurprise.com bolster their position that cane sugar and corn sugar are the same by quoting experts, or should we say mis-quoting …

Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has published widely on the dangers of sugar-sweetened drinks and their contribution to the obesity epidemic. In a review of HFCS in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,(ii) he explains the mechanism by which the free fructose may contribute to obesity. He states that:

“The digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fructose differ from those of glucose. Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo lipogenesis [production of fat in the liver]. In addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight [to control appetite], this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy intake and weight gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages may enhance caloric overconsumption.”

He states that HFCS is absorbed more rapidly than regular sugar, and that it doesn’t stimulate insulin or leptin production. This prevents you from triggering the body’s signals for being full and may lead to overconsumption of total calories.

“… the increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.”

The corn industry takes his comments out of context to support their position. “All sugar you eat is the same.”

True pharmacologic doses of any kind of sugar are harmful, but the biochemistry of different kinds of sugar and their respective effects on absorption, appetite and metabolism are different, and Dr. Popkin knows that.

David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and a personal friend has published extensively on the dangers and the obesogenic properties of sugar-sweetened beverages. He was quoted as saying that “high fructose corn syrup is one of the most misunderstood products in the food industry.” When I asked him why he supported the corn industry, he told me he didn’t and that his comments were taken totally out of context.

Misrepresenting science is one thing, misrepresenting scientists who have been at the forefront of the fight against obesity and high fructose sugar sweetened beverages is quite another.

5. HCFS is almost always a marker of poor-quality, nutrient-poor disease creating industrial food products or “food-like substances”.

The last reason to avoid products that contain HFCS is that they are a marker for poor-quality, nutritionally depleted, processed industrial food full of empty calories and artificial ingredients. If you find “high fructose corn syrup” on the label you can be sure it is not a whole, real, fresh food full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants. Stay away if you want to stay healthy. We still must reduce our overall consumption of sugar, but with this one simple dietary change you can radically reduce your health risks and improve your health.

While debate may rage about the biochemistry and physiology of cane sugar vs. corn sugar, this is in fact beside the point (despite the finer points of my scientific analysis above). The conversation has been diverted to a simple assertion that cane sugar and corn sugar are not different.

We are consuming HFCS and sugar in pharmacologic quantities never before experienced in human history — 140 pounds a year vs. 20 teaspoons a year 10,000 years ago.

High fructose corn syrup is always found in very poor quality foods that are nutritionally vacuous and filled with all sorts of other disease promoting compounds, fats, salt, chemicals and even mercury.

These critical ideas should be the heart of the national conversation, not the meaningless confusing ads and statements by the corn industry in the media and online that attempt to assure the public that the biochemistry of real sugar and industrially produced sugar from corn are the same.

Do you think there is an association between the introduction of HFCS in our diet and the obesity epidemic?

What reason do you think the Corn Refiners Association has for running such ads and publishing websites like those listed in this article?

What do you think of the science presented here and the general effects of HFCS on the American diet?

(i) Dufault, R., LeBlanc, B., Schnoll, R. et al. 2009. Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: Measured concentrations in food product sugar. Environ Health. 26(8):2.

(ii) Bray, G.A., Nielsen, S.J., and B.M. Popkin. 2004. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 79(4):537-43. Review.

Well I was wrong. Here is a partial list of the foods that contain this poison:

Baking and Cooking ingredients

Kellogg’sÂ® Corn Flake Crumbs
Nabisco Oreo Cookie Crumbs
Shake n Bake - Tangy Honey Glaze
Shake n Bake - Honey Mustard Glaze
Stove Top Stuffing - Chicken
Stove Top Stuffing - Cornbread
Stove Top Stuffing - Homestyle Herb
Stove Top Stuffing - Pork
Stove Top Stuffing - Turkey

Beverages:

A&W Root Beer
Capri-Sun Iced Tea
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Fruit Punch
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Grape
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Lemonade
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Mountain Cooler
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Orange
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Pacific Cooler
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Red Berry
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Splash Cooler
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Strawberry
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Strawberry/Kiwi
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Surfer Cooler
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Tropical Punch
Capri-Sun Juice Drink - Wild Cherry
Capri-Sun Refreshers - Orange Dragonfruit
Capri-Sun Refreshers - Rasberry Passionfruit
Capri-Sun Refreshers - Strawberry/Kiwi
Capri-Sun Refreshers - Tropical Fruit
Capri-Sun Sport Drink - Berry Ice
Capri-Sun Sport Drink - Clear Cherry Chill
Capri-Sun Sport Drink - Light Speed Lemon Lime
Capri-Sun Sport Drink - Orange Edge
Capri-Sun Sport Drink - Thunder Punch
Coca-Cola
Darigold Chocolate Milk
Hanson’s All-Natural Soda (all flavors)
Hanson’s Tonic Water
Jones Soda
Newman’s Own Pink Lemonade
Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice
Orangenia
Pepsi
PowerAde
Snapple -Cranberry Raspberry Juice Drink
Sprite
Starbucks’ Frappuccino
Thomas Kemper Soda’s
Tropicana OrangeAde
Tropicana Smoothies
Village Lemonade

Breads:

Brownberry Breads
Pepperidge Farm’s line of 100% whole grain breads
Sara Lee Heart Healthy Whole Grain Bread.
Thomas English Muffins
Wonderbread

Breakfast Cereals

Kellogg’s Frosted Rice KrispiesÂ®
Kellogg’s Tony’s Cinnamon Krunchersâ„¢
Kellogg’s Corn FlakesÂ®
Kellogg’s Frosted FlakesÂ®
Kellogg’s SmorzÂ®
Kellogg’s Special KÂ® Red Berries
Kellogg’s All-BranÂ® Bran BudsÂ®
Kellogg’s All-BranÂ® Extra Fiber
Kellogg’s All-BranÂ® Original
Kellogg’s Apple JacksÂ®
Kellogg’s Cinnamon Crunch Crispixâ„¢
Kellogg’s Cocoa KrispiesÂ®
Kellogg’s CompleteÂ® Oat Bran Flakes
Kellogg’s CompleteÂ® Wheat Bran Flakes
Kellogg’s Fruit Harvestâ„¢ Strawberry Blueberry
Kellogg’s Honey Crunch Corn FlakesÂ®
Kellogg’s Kellogg’s Crunchy Blendsâ„¢ Just RightÂ® Fruit & Nut
Kellogg’s Kellogg’s Crunchy Blendsâ„¢ Low Fat Granola without Raisins
Kellogg’s Kellogg’s Crunchy Blendsâ„¢ Low Fat Granola With Raisins
Kellogg’s Mini-WheatsÂ® Frosted Bite Size
Kellogg’s Mini-WheatsÂ® Frosted Original
Kellogg’s Mini-WheatsÂ® Strawberry
Kellogg’s Crunchy Blendsâ„¢ MueslixÂ® with Raisins, Dates & Almonds
Kellogg’s Product 19Â®
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran CrunchÂ®
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies TreatsÂ® Cereal
Kellogg’s Rice KrispiesÂ®
Kellogg’s Smart StartÂ® Antioxidants
Kellogg’s Smart StartÂ® Soy Protein
Kellogg’s Special KÂ®
Kellogg’s Special KÂ® Vanilla Almond
Kellogg’s Fruit Harvestâ„¢ Peach Strawberry
Kellogg’s SpongeBob SquarePantsâ„¢ Cereal
Kellogg’s Corn FlakesÂ® with Real Bananas
Kellogg’s Spider-manâ„¢ Spidey-Berry Cereal
Kellogg’s Kellogg’s Frosted FlakesÂ® 1/3 Less Sugar
Kellogg’s Special KÂ® low carb lifestyle
Kellogg’s Fruit Harvestâ„¢ Banana Berry
Kellogg’s Disney Pixar Finding Nemoâ„¢ Cereal
Kellogg’s All-Branâ„¢ Bars Honey Oat
Kellogg’s All-Branâ„¢ Bars Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Kellogg’s Disney Pixar The Incrediblesâ„¢
Kellogg’s Tiger Power
Kellogg’s Smart StartÂ® Healthy Heart
Kellogg’s Disney Lilo & Stitchâ„¢
Kellogg’s Special KÂ® Fruit & Yogurt
Kellogg’s Mini Swirlzâ„¢ Fudge Ripple
Kellogg’s Toasted Honey Crunchâ„¢
Kellogg’s Cran-Vanilla Crunchâ„¢
Post Blueberry Morning Cereal

Breakfast Pastries

EggoÂ® Pancakes Buttermilk
EggoÂ® Waf-Fullsâ„¢ Blueberry
EggoÂ® Waf-Fullsâ„¢ Strawberry

Candy Bars:

Hershey’s Watchamacallit
Lifesavers - Butter Rum
Lifesavers - Chill-o-mints
Lifesavers - Cryst-o-mint
Lifesavers - Five Flavor Value Pack
Lifesavers - Hard Candy Sours
Lifesavers - Sours
Lifesavers - Tropical Fruits
Lifesavers - Wild Berries
Lifesavers - Wild Cherry
Optimum Opti-Pro Meal Lite Bar
PowerBar

Condiments:

Heinz 57 Sauce
Heinz Ketchup
Hunt’s Catsup
Miracle Whip

Cookies and Cakes:

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies TreatsÂ® Squares Caramel Chocolatey Chunk
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies TreatsÂ® Squares Original
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies TreatsÂ® Squares Rainbow
Kellogg’s Cereal & Milk Bars Frosted FlakesÂ®
Kellogg’s Cereal & Milk Bars Cocoa KrispiesÂ®
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Spider-manâ„¢ Spidey-Berry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Apple Cinnamon
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Blueberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Chocolate Chip
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Blueberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Cherry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Chocolate Fudge
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Chocolate Vanilla Creme
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Grape
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Raspberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted S’Mores
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Strawberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Wild Berry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Low Fat Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Star Warsâ„¢ Frosted Lava Berry Explosion
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Caramel Chocolate
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Frosted Cookies & Creme
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Cinnamon Roll
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Low Fat Frosted Chocolate Fudge
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Low Fat Frosted Strawberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Strawberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Yogurt Blasts Blueberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Yogurt Blasts Strawberry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® French Toast
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® SpongeBob SquarePantsâ„¢ Wild Bubble-Berry
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Kellogg’s Pop-TartsÂ® The Incredibles Incrediberry Blast
Nabisco Barnum’s Animal Crackers
Nabsico Chips Ahoy
Nabisco Fig Newtons
Nabisco Fig Newtons - Fat Free
Nabisco Fig Newtons - Whole Grain
Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Crackers
Nabisco Lorna Dornes
Nabisco Nilla Wafers
Nabisco Nutter Butter
Nabisco Mallomars
Nabisco Oreo Cookies
Nabisco Snackwells - Creme Sandwich
Nabisco Teddy Grahams
Nutri-Grain Twistsâ„¢ Apple Cobbler
Nutri-Grain Twistsâ„¢ Cappuccino & Creme
Nutri-Grain Twistsâ„¢ Strawberry Cheesecake
Nutri-GrainÂ® Muffin Bars Banana
Nutri-GrainÂ® Muffin Bars Cinnamon Raisin
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Apple Cinnamon
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Blueberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Cherry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Mixed Berry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Raspberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Cereal Bars Strawberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Chewy Granola Bars Honey Oat & Raisin
Nutri-GrainÂ® Chewy Granola Bars Chocolatey Chunk
Nutri-GrainÂ® Chewy Granola Bites Chocolatey Chip
Nutri-GrainÂ® Minis Yogurt Icing Blueberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Minis Yogurt Icing Strawberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Yogurt Bars Strawberry Yogurt
Nutri-GrainÂ® Yogurt Bars Vanilla Yogurt
Nutri-GrainÂ® Muffin Bars Blueberry
Nutri-GrainÂ® Chewy Granola Bites Caramel Nut Crunch
Grandma’s Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies

Cough Syrups:

Delsym 12 Hour Cough Suppressant for Children, Orange
Delsym 12 Hour Cough Suppressant, Orange
Delsym Cough Suppressant
Children’s Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops
Children’s Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops
Robitussin Infant Cough DM
Robitussin Infant Cough & Cold CF
Robitussin DM Cough Relief Infant Drops, Fruit Punch
Robitussin Pediatric Cough & Cold Formula
Robitussin Pediatric Cough Long-Acting
Robitussin Pediatric Cough & Cold Long-Acting
Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough & Cold
Robitussin Head & Chest Congestion PE
Robitussin Cough DM
Robitussin PE Nasal Decongestant and Expectorant
Robitussin Cough, Cold & Flu Nighttime
Robitussin Chest Congestion Guaifenesin Syrup, USP
Robitussin Cough & Congestion
Robitussin Cough Long-Acting
Robitussin Honey Cough Natural Cough Drops, Honey Center
Vicks NyQuil multi-symptom - original
Vicks NyQuil multi-symptom - cherry
Vicks NyQuil Cough
Vicks Formula 44 Cough
Vicks Formula 44 Expectorant
Vicks Formula 44 Decongestant
Vicks Formula 44 Mult-symptom
Pediatric Vicks 44E Cough & Congestion
Pediatric Vicks 44M Cough & Cold
Vicks Casero

Crackers:

Kraft Cheese Nips
Nabisco Harvest Crisps - Wheat Thins 5 Grain
Nabisco Ritz Bits - Peanut Butter
Nabisco Ritz Bits - Graham Cracker S’mores
Nabisco Ritz Chips - Cheddar - Oven-Toasted Crunch
Nabisco Ritz Crackers
Nabisco Ritz Crackers - Low Sodium
Nabisco Sociables
Nabisco Wheat Thins
Nabisco Wheat Thins - Baked
Nabisco Wheat Thins - Low Sodium
Nabisco Wheat Thins - Multi-Grain
Nabisco Wheat Thins - Ranch
Nabisco Wheat Thins - Reduced Fat

Dairy:

Breakstones Cottage Cheese & Toppings - Peach
Breakstones Cottage Cheese & Toppings - Pineapple
Breyer’s Yogurt -Fruit on the Bottom - Strawberry Lowfat
Cool Whip
Cool Whip - Extra-Creamy
Cool Whip - Lite
Knudsen - Cottage Double (Peach)
Knudsen - Cottage Double (Pineapple)
Knudsen - Cottage Double (Strawberry)
Yoplait Yogurts

Drink Mixers:
Saratoga Salsa Bloody Mare Mix (spelling is correct)
El Paso Chili Key Lime Margarita Mix

Frozen Foods:

Fruits and Vegetables:

B&M Original Baked Beans
Contadina Tomato Paste
Claussen Pickles - Bread and Butter Chips
Claussen Pickles - Kosher Dill Burger Slices
Claussen Pickles - Sweet Gherkins
Claussen Pickle Relish
Del Monte canned petite diced tomatoes with italian seasonings
Del Monte Fruit Naturals Red Grapefruit
Heinz Pickle Relish
Mott’s Applesauce
Mt. Olive Sweet Relish
Mt. Olive Bread and Butter Pickles
Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Ice Creams

Ben & Jerry’s - Chubby Hubby (HFCS and Transfat!) - Should we call it Very Chubby Hubby?
Ben & Jerry’s - Cherry Garcia
Ben & Jerry’s - Neapolitan Dynamite
Ben & Jerry’s - Cherry Garcia Body & Soul
Ben & Jerry’s - Cherry Garcia Low Fat Frozen Yogurt Pints
Ben & Jerry’s - Cherry Garcia Original Ice Cream Singles
Dreyer’s - Girl Scouts Samoas Cookie Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Almond Praline Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Cherry Chocolate Chip Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Cherry Vanilla Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Cookies ‘N Cream Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Dulce de Leche Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Nestle Toll House Cookie Swirl Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Spumoni Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Toffee Bar Crunch Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Turtle Sundae Grand Ice Cream
Dreyer’s - Ultimate Caramel Cup Grand Ice Cream

Jams, Jellies, and Syrups

Eggoâ„¢ Syrup Original Syrup
Eggoâ„¢ Syrup Buttery Syrup
Eggoâ„¢ Syrup Lite Syrup
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
Knott’s Boysenberry preserves
Smucker’s Grape Jelly

Meats

Oscar Meyer Pickle and Pimento Loaf

Pastries

Nabisco Nilla Wafer Pie Crust
Nabisco Oreo Pie Crust
Jello No-Bake - Chips Ahoy
Jello No-Bake - Oreo
Pepperidge Farm’s Puff Pastry sheets

Salad Dressings:

Emeril’s Italian Vinegrette
Kraft Salad Dressing - Light done Right Creamy French
Kraft Salad Dressing - Thousand Island Fat Free
Maple Grove Farms Caesar Fat Free
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing - Hot n Spicy
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing - Light
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing - Light Super Easy Squeeze
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing - Non-fat
Miracle Whip Salad Dressing - Super Easy Squeeze
Wishbone Ranch Dressing
Wish-Bone Classic Caesar

Sauces:

A1 Steak Sauce Marinade - Cajun
A1 Steak Sauce Marinade - Chicago
A1 Steak Sauce Marinade - Teriyaki
Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce
Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce - Honey Smoke
Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce - Smokehouse Hickory
Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce - Sweet Hickory Smoke
Bull’s Eye BBQ Sauce - Texas Style Mesquite
Crazy Jerry’s Alotta Bull BBQ Sauce - Torrid Toro (Hot
Holy Smoke - Sticky Wings Glaze
Holy Smoke - Bar B Q Glaze
Jim Beam Steak Sauce
Jim Beam Herb & Garlic Gourmet Marinade
Jim Beam Lemon & Herb Gourmet Marinade
Kraft Barbecue Sauce
Penn State Nittany Lions Lime Grilling Sauce
Pork Rubbers Original Competition BBQ Sauce
Tuttorosso Marinara
Tuttorosso Three Cheese
Tuttorosso Traditional
Tuttorosso Flavored With Meat
Tuttorosso Mushroom
Tuttorosso Tomato & Basil
Tuttorosso Tomato, Olive & Garlic
Virginia Gentleman Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Snacks:

Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Strawberry Cheesecake Bar
Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Chocolate covered Strawberry Cheesecake Bar
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - All Star Burgers
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - All-star Hot Dogs
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Chicken Dunks
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Chicken Strips
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Cracker Stackers
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Nachos
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Peanut Butter Pile-ups
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Pizza
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Pizza Dunks
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Pizza Pile-ups
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Pizza Stix
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Pizza Swirls
Oscar Mayer Lunchables - Tacos

Soups
Campbells

Note: The article DannyTN has posted contains a number of demonstrable lies. Please note I'm not bashing DCBryan and I have no dog in the HFCS fight, I just smelled a rat and it turns out this Hyman guy is so full of crap he could explode any minute. Full details below, but if you want to save time just skip to items 10, 12 and 13 where the guy lies through his teeth.

This article is garbage. In fact, it appears to be garbage full of intentional lies. I probably shouldn't have wasted the time to wade through, but I guess if I go all the way here I can show some of you folks how full of crap almost every one of these nutritionist articles on the Internet is.

1. First, there's the problem I mentioned in post 75. In the first paragraph, the guy not only makes correlation into causation, he does so without establishing any correlation in the first place. Heck, the number of tattoos per capita increased dramatically in recent decades...maybe tattoos cause obesity, obesity causes tattoos or high fructose corn syrup causes tattoos.

2. The good doctor identifies the increase in HFCS use over some undefined period of time, but does not identify the decrease in other sweeteners over the same time. Nor does he discuss any of the other factors that have changed in the last few decades that could also lead to obesity, such as increased electronic recreation, less walking and physical activity in daily chores, government propping up poor diets through welfare, etc., though admittedly he does say HFCS is not the only cause.

3. It is improper, indeed, borderline lying, for this guy to say that the ad campaigns he hates are designed to create "doubt and confusion." Even if these folks are lying, they aren't trying to create doubt or confusion, they are trying to identify their product as clearly safe. In other words, honest or scumbaggish, the ads are designed to do the exact opposite of what he says they are designed to do.

4. This analogy...

...doesn't even work if the corn growers are evil. It's an apples and oranges comparison if they're evil, and an apples and Ford F150 comparison if they're not.

5. To think they are tracking this (and me) that closely gives me an Orwellian chill.

So, let's presume innocence and ask this: if an innocent industry making a harmless product is being portrayed as child-killing scumbags, it's "Orwellian" for them to use Google and Lexis-Nexis to identify where false accusations are coming from and respond? Really?

6. Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?

Apparently this guy got an MD without passing statistics. This statement is like saying that Ford makes bad cars, and if Ford disagrees it's because the auto industry is so large. "The food industry" comprises everyone from an organic farmer and a Mexican restaurant to the makers of soft drinks.

7. The ads suggest getting your nutrition advice from your doctor (who, unfortunately, probably knows less about nutrition than most grandmothers)

The modern media "nutritionist" knows even less. See "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre for a full rundown. Also, I'd like to note here that my mother, who has now been a grandmother for 16 years and became a great-grandmother by marriage on Thursday, used to give my brothers and I icebox cookies and Kool-Aid. Fortunately, it was refined cane sugar in the kool aid and icebox cookies; had it been HFCS I would now weigh 1,500 pounds.

8. Last week over lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames, one of the foremost nutritional scientists in the world and Dr. Jeffrey Bland, a nutritional biochemist, a student of Linus Pauling and I reviewed the existing science, and Dr. Ames shared shocking new evidence from his research center on how HFCS can trigger body-wide inflammation and obesity.

The best scientific discoveries never start with "Here's a rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific study," they start with "Three guys had lunch..."

BTW, I can't seem to find any scientists named Bruce Ames that could be described as the foremost anything in the world, except for the one at Berkely who studies cancer, who is indeed one of the foremost living scientists, period. A search of his website finds no mention of the word "fructose." Note that if you search on the web for instances of Ames' name with fructose, you'll only find them mentioned together on health food sites, not in science news or journals, and some of them also link him to MMR-induced autism, which is not only quackery but is outside his area of research, i.e., it's very, very unlikely he was studying it.

As for Dr. Bland...well, he has his own page at Quackwatch. I'm not endorsing Quackwatch (I don't know enough about them to do so) but unless everything on that page is a lie, this guy is a typical nutrition-quack.

Oh, and that stuff about Ames presenting data about inflammation? There are exactly four references to inflammation on Ames' site. None of them are recent and all have to do with sources of inflammation that have nothing to do with HFCS, such as one paper that discusses inflammation in patients who have too much iron.

9. When one 20 ounce HFCS sweetened soda, sports drink or tea has 17 teaspoons of sugar (and the average teenager often consumes two drinks a day) we are conducting a largely uncontrolled experiment on the human species.

First this guys says HFCS isn't sugar, then he calls it sugar. Also, his premise up to now has been that HFCS is a special evil, not something that is harming people because they're eating too much of it. Now he decides it will kill you if you eat too much, just like sugar. Yeah, I can say the same thing about water, so I guess the folks at Culligan are evil, too.

10. High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist, Michael Pollan to observe it for his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS.

Since I haven't read Pollan's book I can't tell if Hyman is lying about Pollan or if it's the one fact in a paragraph that is otherwise a flat-out lie. BTW, if I ran a food processing company I could be making a cereal that cures cancer and I wouldn't let Pollan in my factory, but that's neither here nor there.

Here are the three lies:

HFCS is not extracted from stalks, it's extracted from milled corn.

The process is not secret, it's been around since 1965. There's even a section on how it's done in the Wikipedia article on HFCS.

HFCS is not "biologically novel," it's made of fructose and glucose, both of which occur in nature.

The section that follows in which he uses "basic biochemistry" to explain further evils of "unbound" fructose is pure BS that doesn't even make sense (if it did, honey would be one of the most dangerous food on the planet) and would contradict peer-reviewed studies anyway. Dig this: When you eat sucrose (common table sugar) your body breaks it down to 50% fructose and 50% glucose. When you eat HFCS, your body is receiving 55% fructose and 45% glucose. So, this guy's premise is that this extra 5% fructose is going to kill me? Yes, kill, his word, not mine.

11. But there was one more thing I learned during lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames. Research done by his group at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute found that free fructose from HFCS requires more energy to be absorbed by the gut and soaks up two phosphorous molecules from ATP (our body’s energy source).

This appears to be a claim that the Bruce Ames he had lunch with is the famous cancer researcher, since Ames does research at that facility. So, where is Ames' publication on this issue?

12. An FDA researcher asked corn producers to ship a barrel of high fructose corn syrup in order to test for contaminants. Her repeated requests were refused until she claimed she represented a newly created soft drink company. She was then promptly shipped a big vat of HFCS that was used as part of the study that showed that HFCS often contains toxic levels of mercury because of chlor-alkali products used in its manufacturing.(i) Poisoned sugar is certainly not “natural”.

This passage is an ouright lie. Plus, Hyman either can't do math or is counting on you to miss it.

First, the story of the "new soda company" is an outright lie, as you can see in the summary of the study he cites, there was no problem getting samples of HFCS and there was no "huge vat" but samples from a number of companies. Of course, that's no suprise since the idea of the FDA saying "We want a sample of your food" and being told "you can't have it" is one of the dumbest claims I've ever heard. They're the FDA, man! It would be like me saying, "No officer, you can't see my license and registration."

Fifty-five percent of the samples had no mercury. The remainder had amounts far below international limits. The sample with the most mercury would expose the average American to (wait for it) .00025 grams of mercury per day. Obviously i'm not a big fan of mercury in my diet, but 25/100,00ths of a gram doesn't seem like a major crisis to me.

A lie about a nothingburger...but he says your life is on the line.

13. When citing and quoting Barry Popkin, Hyman doesn't mention that the quote is from 2004 and Popkin has since then determined that there is no difference in effect between sugar and HFCS and that the problem is too much sugar consumption, period. Unless he can't tell the difference between 2004 and 2010, Hyman is the one telling tales.

Bottom line: This article is composed of 100% male bovine fecal matter.

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