http://www.care2.com/greenliving/high-fructose-corn-syrup-that-sweet-sweet-bully.html
High Fructose Corn Syrup: That Sweet, Sweet Bully
Quick! What is wrong with nuclear power??! How about DDT??! Or vinyl off-gassing??! Well, your inability to respond quickly, succinctly and in a rapid-fire sound bite has just destroyed your credibility and rendered you ignorant and labeled you as a lefty-liberal whiner. Sorry, you lose!
This is the intended message of a crop of pro-HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) advertisements paid for by the Corn Refiners Association and created to shame the public into quiet subservience and passive consumption of the countless high-fructose corn syrup-laden products that dominate the supermarket. The two commercials are basically the same in theme and concept and consist of aggressively obnoxious people being admonished in their uninformed condemnation of high-fructose corn syrup, by individuals that seem a lot more appealing and conversant.
The first commercial is the more insidious of the bunch, consisting of two mothers at, what looks like, a child’s birthday party. Mom One spots Mom Two pouring out glasses of punch from what looks like a jug of anti-freeze and arrogantly chides “Wow, you don’t care what the kids eat, huh?” To which Mom Two politely asks her to substantiate her condemnation of high-fructose corn syrup, and of course, Mom One can’t deliver or recall exactly why high-fructose corn syrup is so bad for you, thus rendering her a red-faced dope. Mom Two negates Mom One’s befuddlement with the statement that high-fructose corn syrup is “made from corn, doesn’t have artificial ingredients and is fine in moderation.” (Note: antagonist Mom One is white, and protagonist Mom Two is black–is there a racial subtext here?
The second commercial is less relevant to parents, but is no less insidious, in that it equates love with feeding your partner high-fructose corn syrup, as in, “I feed you high-fructose corn syrup because I love you.” The basic structure is the same, this time with a couple on a picnic as the woman assumes the role of high-fructose corn syrup booster in opposition to her callow boyfriend. The end result being that he looks like an idiot, and she looks sweet and sensible. All of which is summed up by a congenial voice over reminding you to, “Get the facts, you are in for a sweet surprise.”
The cynical conceit of these ads are that if you can’t recall at a moment’s notice, all, or any, of the reasons something is negative or undesirable, then your concerns are wholly irrelevant, and you should just shut your mouth, and only open it to receive a generous serving of high-fructose corn syrup. The logic behind these ads assert that because high-fructose corn syrup is “natural,” as it is derived from corn, then it is wholesome and safe, much like natural radon gas, lead and tobacco.
Next page: The Truth About High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Five Things You Need to Know
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198 comments
add your comment »Great article. FYI all doubters, the problems with HFCS are well-documented by the NIH and the AMA, and a majority of physicians now believe it's a serious problem, on the same scale of lethal risk as tobacco. (There were ads in the 50s and 60s preaching the health benefits of smoking!) Well, HFCS is just as much of a killer and its industrial producers and users have just as much incentive to lie to us! It can be cranked out for about 1/7 the cost of real sugar so of course Coke & Pepsi and almost every manufacturer of sweets want to ram it down our throats; how sweet it (their profit) is!!
What HFCS does is flood the cells with a concentrated combination of fructose and sugar that your body is not evolutionarily adapted to. It inhibits and eventually impairs the natural functions of the mitochondria, and confuses your pancreas as to how much useful sugar is available in your blood. Hence it can lead readily towards Diabetes Type II even in otherwise healthy persons with no diabetic family history. For overweight people the tendency is even worse.
Many, many double-blind studies now show that those who quit HFCS, particularly soda drinkers, exhibit dramatic remission rates or reductions of their diabetic symptoms; particularly for more mature and overweight individuals. It's true a young healthy kid can knock back sodas with seemingly no ill effects, but any Dr. looking at that kid's pancreas 20 years later will find an emergency waiting to happen.
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great article
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HFCS nearly killed me I started bleeding from rectum and it wouldn't stop I thought I would have to call 911.
When I stopped consuming HFCS of which is very very difficult all bleeding stopped.
The thing is HFCS has Mercury in it that is the process of it is made. Be careful because HFCS is in Chicken Noodle Soup and in Corn Flakes it is things that to me it is not required but especially in soft drinks.
You would think that the government would step in stop this poison going into our food but no they just let it continue.
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thanks for sharing this article.
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Amber,
What part of "High-fructose corn syrup has been linked directly to ... metabolic dysfunction" didn't you understand?
I learned about this several years ago from a TV show. HFCS inhibits the brains ability to know when you are full, so you just keep eating. Eat enough of this poison, and your body just can't tell what is real anymore.
So no, not even in little amounts is this ok.
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But there is really nothing bad about it. Unless you are one of those people who can't control yourself when you eat. Yes if you are predisposed to diabietes or the others you should worry, but if you aren't. High Fructose corn syrup would be fine in moderation. Water has no nutritional value whatsoever, but it is good for you. I agree the commercials are tring to shadow the truth and don't make a good arguement, but isn't that the purpose of commercials. To say that HFCS is bad and shouldn't be consumed based on this little information is a bit much.
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Taken from wikipedia on the subject of HFCS:
"In a 2007 study, rats were fed a diet high in fat and HFCS and kept relatively sedentary for 16 weeks in an attempt to emulate the diet and lifestyle of many Americans.[38] The rats were not forced to eat, but were able to eat as much as they wanted; they consumed a large amount of food, and the researcher, Dr. Tetri stated that there is evidence that fructose suppresses the sensation of fullness. Within four weeks, the rats showed early signs of fatty liver disease and type II diabetes. An equivalent diet using sucrose instead of HFCS was not tested."
Every time I eat this junk (though not any more since my hubby found this info on wiki about a month and a half ago) I find myself not able to stop eating--and it wasn't just sugary stuff but food in general.
Here's the link to what wikipedia has to say about it. It's VERY informative and much deeper than what this article touched on (though it's still a good article). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
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how frustrating! thank you for sharing
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thanks
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Anything that has any type of fructose is a no no for me. Nutrition for the body is Key - So very important - Excellent Article! I shop at the local organic market and eat organic as much as I possibly can.
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