Got this comment from /.
Definitely. American companies put way too much HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) in their products, and it’s nasty stuff. About two years ago I decided to avoid HFCS, but still eat sweets like I normally would. Ie, I still ate ice cream, cookies, sodas, cereal, etc, but only those brands that use cane sugar instead of HFCS. You can get good products at places like Whole Foods (pricy) or Trader Joes (similar price or even cheaper than a supermarket). [In fact, Trader Joes cereals, which don’t have HFCS, are cheaper than the corresponding kinds from Kelloggs and General Mills which do have HFCS.] Anyway, the interesting result is that, without meaning to, I lost about 15 pounds while still eating all the desserts I wanted, just by avoiding HFCS!.
One thing is that HFCS seems to do is inhibit the ‘full’ feeling you get after eating, so you can eat more if your food has HFCS. Great news for food companies, not good news for American health.
It is annoying because food with real sugar just tastes much better, and is healthier. In most other countries products like Coca-Cola has cane sugar, but here in the USA all products substitute HFCS. I once emailed Coca-Cola about this a few years ago, they said it’s up to local bottlers to decide which sweetener to use. And of course they cut corners and go for the cheap stuff.
Some companies use this to their advantage because ignorant people see CORN instead of SUGAR and think the product is healthier. Ie, Kelloggs Corn Pops used to be called Sugar Pops. By making the change, parents thought Corn sounded much healthier than sugar, so they have no problem giving this cereal to their kids, when it has the same amount of calories, yet uses HFCS instead of cane or beet sugar.
Unfortunately midwestern corn farmers have alot of political power, and politicians, aiming for approval in the early Iowa primaries, are likely to bow down to these farmers in order to get the party nomination. The corn lobby has huge power, both political and economical, and they choose to market HFCS instead of doing something productive such as growing biofuels with the corn instead.
Another thing is that it’s more expensive to import and use cane sugar than to process corn into HFCS. I am not certain of this, but I would theorize that one big factor is due to the embargo we put on Cuba after Castro came to power in 1959. Cuba was a huge source of cane sugar (their chief export), so the embargo basically crippled their economy overnight and impeded a huge source of sugar cane into the USA. So corn farmers, along with massive chemical processing to produce the HFCS, filled the void.
Anyway, that is my rant, I hate HFCS, and it’s good to see more people becoming aware of it. I really do think that just by substituting cane sugar for HFCS there will be a notable change in America’s obesity problem. It probably won’t cure the problem, but I think there would be definite effects.
There were many interesting things from this comments and several highly doubtful things. I’ve bolded the things which I found interesting. However, I was interested in the High Fructose Corn Syrup and was wondering it there has been any studies regarding this. Sugar coated – We’re drowning in high fructose corn syrup. Do the risks go beyond our waistline? (from ungsunghero):
Other studies by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Michigan have shown that consuming fructose, which is more readily converted to fat by the liver, increases the levels of fat in the bloodstream in the form of triglycerides.
And unlike other types of carbohydrate made up of glucose, fructose does not stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. Peter Havel, a nutrition researcher at UC Davis who studies the metabolic effects of fructose, has also shown that fructose fails to increase the production of leptin, a hormone produced by the body’s fat cells.
Both insulin and leptin act as signals to the brain to turn down the appetite and control body weight. And in another metabolic twist, Havel’s research shows that fructose does not appear to suppress the production of ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger and appetite.
“Because fructose in isolation doesn’t activate the hormones that regulate body weight as do other types of carbohydrate composed of glucose, consuming a diet high in fructose could lead to taking in more calories and, over time, to weight gain,” he says.
Random Crap:
Library Seat in Main Stacks for Sale (berkeley) (from chewydenise) – Its Finals week! Thinking of studying in the main stacks but don’t want to walk around for minutes/hours/days looking for a seat? Well my seat is up for sale! It is on level C main stacks, in the big tables. I have a lamp next to me and an outlet great for charging laptops/cellphones/ipods/vibrators or any electronic device you might use. The spot also includes a chair. I will even throw in an energy drink. I will set the price at 5 dollars or best offer. I can take pics with my camara phone so email me if you want to see pics. This is PRIME REAL ESTATE.
Control the Show (from Microsoft newsgroup) – This site merges many aspects of technology and fun into an interactive Christmas light controller. That’s right! You can control the Christmas lights on my house. Using the web interface YOU can control the light schemes and spread a bit of holiday cheer on to everyone else watching the show online or to visitors driving by. The system will come online each night in the evening at 5:30pm EST until midnight.
Phony Photo Booth at Universal Studios – a hilarious clip from Jay Leno of how far people will go just to get a free photo. They don’t even question technology. I’ve seen this a long time ago, but it’s hilarious to see it again. Make sure you see the last one!
Kotaku – xbox 360 japan launch guide – interesting turn of events makes the Xbox360 not a sell-out in Japan. In fact, the stores are overstock with them. I wondering what’s going to happen now…
Lineage II Movies (from tera) – some really cool animations and videos of the game Lineage II. Check it out. The Lineage II animals are so cute:
Meebo (from /.) – a pretty neat AJAX application. Allows you sign on to any IM client (AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, or GTalk) without downloading any client and all with a nice and easy to interface. Only thing I’m worried is the privacy issues. Who knows if they’re going to be storing my password or recording my conversations. Of course they say they won’t and it looks like the password passing is encrypted, but still, it worries me that I have to go through a 3rd party site.
DKNY Men’s Leather Pants I Unfortunately Own (from mandalayx) – a really funny eBay auction. Be sure to also check ou the Q&A on the bottom. It’s even funnier!
Got several videos from thatvideosite.com:
