This is food?
Jan. 27th, 2009 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumThe corn syrup industry has been stung by recent backlash against it's product.
There are a lot of interesting features to high-fructose corn syrup. The ability to set the sugar chains to various lengths makes it possible to adjust the viscosity without having to raise, or decrease, the actual amount of sugar.
But that very ability to modify its structure is at the heart of the debate about the effect it has on those who eat it, esp. those who eat it in great quantity. Maia's research/studies (it came up in some of her classes at CalPolySLO) convinced her to avoid it, and she convinced me (I do know that it has a different taste in Coke. Unless it's from Mexico, where sugar is still cheaper, I don't drink it). I don't know that I feel better since coming to avoid it, wherever possible, but it's not made great changes in my life.
Since the use of corn for syrup takes farmland out of productive use for food crops (the varieties are different, not just the end use. This is also one of the problems with growing corn for fuel, but that's a completely different topic) I have a small sense of comfort in doing a small bit to reduce demand for the stuff (though it would mean more if I sent a note to Coke, etc., telling them I wasn't buying their product because of the corn syrup).
Turns out there's a more pressing reason to avoid the stuff.
It makes tuna look good for you.
... with 45% of the HFCS samples containing mercury in this small study, it
would be prudent and perhaps essential for public health that additional research be
conducted by the FDA or some other public health agency to determine if products
containing HFCS also contain mercury. In 2004, several member states of the European
Union reported finding mercury concentrations in beverages, cereals and bakery ware,
and sweeteners [14] – all of which may contain HFCS.
... With the reported average daily consumption of 49.8 g HFCS per person, however, and our finding of mercury in the range of 0.00 to 0.570 μg mercury/g HFCS, we can estimate that the potential average daily total mercury exposure from HFCS could range from zero to 28.4 μg mercury.
There are a lot of interesting features to high-fructose corn syrup. The ability to set the sugar chains to various lengths makes it possible to adjust the viscosity without having to raise, or decrease, the actual amount of sugar.
But that very ability to modify its structure is at the heart of the debate about the effect it has on those who eat it, esp. those who eat it in great quantity. Maia's research/studies (it came up in some of her classes at CalPolySLO) convinced her to avoid it, and she convinced me (I do know that it has a different taste in Coke. Unless it's from Mexico, where sugar is still cheaper, I don't drink it). I don't know that I feel better since coming to avoid it, wherever possible, but it's not made great changes in my life.
Since the use of corn for syrup takes farmland out of productive use for food crops (the varieties are different, not just the end use. This is also one of the problems with growing corn for fuel, but that's a completely different topic) I have a small sense of comfort in doing a small bit to reduce demand for the stuff (though it would mean more if I sent a note to Coke, etc., telling them I wasn't buying their product because of the corn syrup).
Turns out there's a more pressing reason to avoid the stuff.
It makes tuna look good for you.
... with 45% of the HFCS samples containing mercury in this small study, it
would be prudent and perhaps essential for public health that additional research be
conducted by the FDA or some other public health agency to determine if products
containing HFCS also contain mercury. In 2004, several member states of the European
Union reported finding mercury concentrations in beverages, cereals and bakery ware,
and sweeteners [14] – all of which may contain HFCS.
... With the reported average daily consumption of 49.8 g HFCS per person, however, and our finding of mercury in the range of 0.00 to 0.570 μg mercury/g HFCS, we can estimate that the potential average daily total mercury exposure from HFCS could range from zero to 28.4 μg mercury.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 10:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 10:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 05:48 pm (UTC)Sometime, though, I need to try subbing invert syrup (a cane sugar derivative) for corn syrup in candy recipes.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 06:16 pm (UTC)If I understand it, invert will do different things. You might want to talk to