High-Fructose Corn Syrup Sales Plummet As Consumers Reject Products

Hell, I could have told you that. There's also an addictive quality to it, at least as concerns my own biology.

I went from 200 pounds to 122 in about 8 months, and have kept it off for the last 4.

Last summer, I noticed there was a strange pattern to the godawful urges I'd periodically experience to eat everything in sight. It wasn't stress, anger, or anything emotional. I wondered if there was something in the food itself that was causing this, because it only happened after I ate certain things.

Using ingredient lists, I narrowed it down and finally found the culprit.

The single worst food ingredient for triggering a mindless, madcap, all-you-can-eat binge?

Anything with high fructose corn syrup.

It's like you just can't get enough! You're never satisfied! Ever!

I don't know if other dieters have had similar problems, but yeesh! I started avoiding it, and this helped a lot!

i only just started watching out for HFCS in my food. i try to eat organic and grow my own stuff but it's only been for the past 6 months or so. for years i was on Zoloft and that, with two pregnancies, has really done a number on my weight and my metabolism. i keep hearing from people who lost incredible amounts of weight and feel amazing after taking HFCS out of their diets. i can't wait to see some results!

You sound like a good mom.

They say you should limit use of Agave nectar also.

A really good thing that we started doing along with cutting HFCS was joining a CSA. It's a great way to get local produce, meats and dairy products. We did a share of veggies this year and you end up getting 15lbs of produce a week for $14 a week! well worth it I say.

A really good thing that we started doing along with cutting HFCS was joining a CSA.

Good idea.

You sound like a good mom.

I try to be a good mom. I always look for causes and look for a natural way to deal with any health problems...this in no way means I'm against medicine. I want to know what causes whatever and go from there...not just treat symptoms and hope the problem goes away.

Those who believe that HFCS is the sole cause of their weight problem are dreaming. There's a very simple equation: if calories in is greater that calories expended, you get porky. Most people in this country don't expend enough calories, and intake too many, simple deal.

Common Man-1469728

Those who believe that HFCS is the sole cause of their weight problem are dreaming.

Just like saying people saying HFCS plays no role in our nations weight problems are also dreaming. Insulin doesn't break down HFCS as easily as cane sugar so it is more likely to end up stored as fat.

Heretical Monk...A really good thing that we started doing along with cutting HFCS was joining a CSA. It's a great way to get local produce, meats and dairy products.

It's a fantastic way to eat better and support local agriculture and small farms.

If folks are looking for information about joining or starting a CSA or locating small local growers, check out Local Harvest who have a searchable database and tons of other tools to help you.

If you're a small grower, register so we can shop from you!!

I have just done this! Due to cronic migraines I've been making an effort to cut out thugs from my diet that could be triggers. The first thing to go was HFCS. (I alredy avoid diet sweeteners, those are pure poision). I have slowly been felony better and better and the more foods I found it in and cut it out the better I felt. The next thing to go was highly processed foods (except on occasion) most of the prepared and packaged crap is where you find Corn.
http://www.cornallergens.com/list/corn-allergen-list.php
since I've eliminated all corn byproducts that i can control (except when I eat out) my apatite has changed. I feel full on a quarter of what i would eat before, I've lost amost 20lbs in the past two months and I feel better! I have tried every diet under the sun and it would be hard to convince me it isn't the lack of processed corn in my die tchanging thngs for me.
the problem is not just the HFCS it's the corn in EVERYTHING. Read http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/184-5824844-9936855?a=1594200823

thy feed corn to cows to make them bulk up. Think about it

Corn is a complex plant to grow in quantity. You can't use last years corn for seed and be competitive, you have to buy the patented seed from the ag company. It requires extensive spraying for weeds. I required LOTS of water to grow properly. Most of the corn in the US is used for animal feed (beef, pork, poultry) and most of the rest is corn syrup. Very little corn is used to make ethanol believe it or not. I toured a plant and they ship back out around 90% of the corn processed to be used as high grade animal food. They only use the starch from the kernel to create the alcohol.

Those who believe that HFCS is the sole cause of their weight problem are dreaming. There's a very simple equation: if calories in is greater that calories expended, you get porky. Most people in this country don't expend enough calories, and intake too many, simple deal.

That's a nice story, but it isn't true. I can consume 2500 calories a day from healthy foods, such as grass-fed beef, saturated fats from animals allowed to eat a natural diet, nutrient-dense vegetables, etc and not gain any weight at all. But if those calories come from crap "white" foods that are high in sugars (of any form) and you have a different story.

Could you prove this? What's so particular about one calorie from another?

How the body processes the energy - think of it this way: burning bituminous coal and burning anthracite coal both give off heat. However, the bituminous coal is also going to give off a lot more impurities than the anthracite, and if you were doing this in your furnace, you would need the chimney sweep to come by a lot sooner to remove the soot and creosote buildups. This is analogous to the way your body processes calories from, say, a Big Mac compared with gazpacho soup (to give an extreme example), or from fructose compared with glucose compared with more complex carbohydrates. Make sense?

Nice explanation. But where's the proof? Even the residual calorie would be burned through metabloism and activity. It isn't soot, as you suggest.

I think it kinda like putting diesel in a gasoline engine.

This has already been linked. I would akin it to the trans fat/margarine/butter health effects. The HFCS was shown to increase the weight calorie per calorie. I do not know of other studies but I'll look. I'm not going to wait for the studies to be conclusive that HFCS is not the same as sugar...because my daughter gets sick from it...it will not be in my house.

A few years ago I stood among cornfields in my back yard and reasoned that I was looking at a catastrophe. Nature is not sympathetic to over-specialization in the face of catastrophe, look at the Panda if you don't believe me. This whole thing; sugar, HFCS, factory cattle and other livestock, it is a bad setup and there is a natural bowling ball waiting to knock it down. Sugar is only the coating that you put on the Doughnut, yet the hole is still there.

Here's another ingredient I have to avoid because it makes my kid sick...well what do you know...it's a condensed version of HFCS in crystallized form. Look at the %s...How many people do you think know what crystalline fructose is? Sounds natural enough, just dried fructose right?

What I have learned is that crystalline fructose “is produced by allowing the fructose to crystallize from a fructose-enriched corn syrup.” This information is from the sugar producers themselves, at sugar.org. This explanation is very straightforward: it is made from corn syrup, and not only corn syrup, but “fructose enriched” corn syrup. Would another name for that perhaps be high fructose corn syrup?

I have learned that Crystalline Fructose contains 99.5% minimum of fructose assay, which is an even higher percentage of fructose than what makes up HFCS. Another ingredient of crystalline fructose is arsenic.

In my humble opinion, it sounds like the food industry has come up with a new name for high fructose corn syrup, while increasing the level of fructose in it.

For those who do not know what the ingredients are because they keep changing them...what are they supposed to do? I have to keep reading up on this because of my daughters health...each time I see a new ingredient I look it up to make sure it will not be another name for the same thing.

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up - one more thing I will not be putting on the table.

#$@**&^ pardon my language but the more I know about this the madder I get

I know...many times I don't know until my daughter throws up again...then we read what she has eaten in the past day. Sure enough it will have some form of it in the product...and these are products I have bought on a regular basis because they didn't contain it...that added them later. I'm so annoyed by it. Even shopping the perimeter doesn't prevent me from buying a food that will not make her sick. I have to read every label every time on certain products...even bread.

Thankfully, bread is getting easier to buy - I've noticed that more and more brands are now labeling their product as having no HFCS. Yay!

I sometimes make my own from scratch. It's time consuming, but I know what I'm eating :-)

as far as I am concerned, high fructose corn syrup is poison.

Me, too.

That is why I either bake from scratch or keep fruit on hand for those sweet cravings...along with a supply of dark chocolate.

It's too bad more people don't take a chemistry class or two in school. HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Table sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Your body treats them the same (uses them as fuel)...because they are the same. Honey has more fructose than HFCS.

MoCowgirl, you keep fruit on hand? The main sugar in fruit is fructose! About 70% of the sugar in apples is fructose, and similarly with many others, such as pears and watermelons.

It's too bad more people don't take a chemistry class or two in school.

Have and in them now as well as nutrition classes. Did you read the Princeton research linked above?

My daughter doesn't get sick from apples or honey...or any thing else in natural form...but I'll send her over for dinner...give her HFCS and watch what happens.

@CSX321

table sugar is sucrose. although your body does use different sugars as fuel, your body processes different sugar sources very differently, getting different amounts of energy from each. back to chemistry (and biology) class for you i guess.

Linus: Yes, I had quite a few chem classes. Each molecule of sucrose is one fructose and one glucose stuck together with a chemical bond. It's called a "disaccharide" because it is made up of two other sugars.

Yes, I did read the Princeton study. I simplified a little when I said your body treats them the same. Actually, corn syrup and honey are more "efficient" fuels than table sugar. In the liquid forms, the fructose and glucose are separate molecules, while in table sugar they are joined by a chemical bond. Your body actually has to use a little bit of energy to break the table sugar apart before utilizing it, a step that isn't required for corn syrup or honey. So the results of the study make perfect sense: corn syrup and table sugar contain the same amount of energy (i.e. the same number of calories), but your body has to work a tiny bit harder to make use of the table sugar. Corn syrup, honey, fruit, etc. are two steps ahead for your body, and table sugar is two steps ahead and a tiny step back.

I am sorry about your daughter's condition. Maybe it's due to some of the other saccharides in corn syrup? If she doesn't get sick from apples or honey, it's not the fructose that's causing it. I assume you've already considered glutens or other allergy-causing things?

Incidentally, the thing about your body having to break table sugar apart first is the same reason it's even better to eat complex carbohydrates and proteins. Your body has to work even harder to convert them to glucose before using them. (Since you said you studied nutrition I know you know this, but I just mention it for others reading, because I thought it was interesting.)

It's easy to explain America's obesity problem without blaming HFCS. We just eat too freaking much and don't get enough exercise. :-/

HFCS and the brain...do you know the effects? What about the liver?

HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

Bull...

"High fructose corn syrup is composed of either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose and higher sugars."

Higher sugars play key roles in protein synthesis as well as many other processes in the body. Do you have a list of the higher sugars in HFCS? I have not been able to find a list of "higher sugars" associated with HFCS.

Kind of reminiscent of margarine and trans fats.

You call "bull" and then post the same thing? As I said, HFCS is normally 55% fructose. It's sometimes less. Table sugar ("sucrose") is always 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Glucose is the main thing our bodies use for energy. No, sorry, I don't have a list of other sugars in HFCS.

I know I'm not changing any minds. I just find it odd that people latch on to the one study that confirms their beliefs and disregard the hundreds that say otherwise. A quick Google search will find a whole host of scientists who say there is no essential difference in how HFCS and table sugar are metabolized, being the same molecules. For the time being, I trust the hundreds, and simple chemistry, against the one.

The problem is that we eat too much sugar period, whatever form it's in.

except for the fact that many people are allergic to corn and the body does not metabolize sugar all that well to begin with and over consumption of sugar is the primary reason for diabetes.

Sugar is not a food group. It ought not be added to our foods in the quantities that are allowed maybe the cost of food would go down too if they stop putting stuff in it that we do not need.

Now, if we can get them to stop using Palm Oil...

Lisa: "the body does not metabolize sugar all that well"

I'm sorry, but you're misinformed there. Actually the body runs on sugar, and without it you will die instantly. Our bodies turn most of the food we eat into fructose and glucose, which our blood transports to our cells where it undergoes several chemical reactions and ultimately is combined with oxygen to release energy and produce waste products, including water and carbon dioxide. High school Biology 101. Here's a complete description of the process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism#Energy_from_organic_compounds .

But I do agree with you that we eat too much of it.

I do read labels, and refuse to buy anything artificial... as far as I am concerned, high fructose corn syrup is poison.

In what way is corn syrup artificial?

"Higher sugars" was my point...do you know how they effect the brain?

I just find it odd that people latch on to the one study that confirms their beliefs and disregard the hundreds that say otherwise

No, sorry, I don't have a list of other sugars in HFCS.

Neither do I...and I want to know but am unable to find a source.

If your daughter got sick every time she ate it wouldn't you wonder why? It's not going to be in my home like any other man-made sweetener. I don't care how much data on either side presents itself. She has no other health problems/allergies etc. It took years with no answers from the doctors...they put her through a lot. I took a year, investigated everything and had no clue where to start...so I started with the ingredients in food. Found it to be HFCS that makes her sick when ingested. What do you want me to say..."sure I'll buy that again?"

Go ahead feed your kids HFCS and buy all the products you want with HFCS.

Common Man-1469728

In what way is corn syrup artificial?

Yes HFCS comes from corn, so does ethanol hell we make plastic bottles out of corn. Once it left the factory it has nothing to do anymore with the corn it came from it has just been chemically rendered down to it's most simple glucose. Of course the more simple the glucose is the less good it is for you.

#3.12: In what way is corn syrup artificial?

Well, artificial isn't exactly the right word... but it is highly processed. It isn't like eating corn on the cob. It (corn) simply isn't a natural sweetener, and I also refuse anything that contains those low-to-no-calorie sweeteners (aspartame, sweet'n'low, etc.). I prefer to eat unrefined sugars and look for products that contain those. Actually, I tend to eat very little sugar. I never drink soda, and rarely touch those packaged fruit drinks that are really just sugar water.

I prefer to eat unrefined sugars and look for products that contain those. Actually, I tend to eat very little sugar. I never drink soda, and rarely touch those packaged fruit drinks that are really just sugar water.

And that is pretty much the point that is missed. It isn't that HFCS may or may not be bad for you but that sugar in excess is bad for you. As a society we eat more sweets than any time in history (while at the same time becoming more sedentary than ever) and are reaping the consequences of that. People want a silver bullet and have found it in HFCS and the market is responding. Yet it won't solve the problem but people will feel better about themselves because they are eating "all-natural" sugar (although let us not forget arsenic and cyanide and many other toxic substances are "all natural" as well") as they continue to eat too much and sit on their butts (and to be honest that is certainly my lifestyle, I'm at least honest with myself about what my problems are - most are not) until someone else comes along and thinks "hey, I can make more money if I can convince people my product is better than sugar" regardless of whether it is healthier or not.

The fact is this whole fight isn't about healthy eating but about Big Sugar trying to muscle out Big Corn when the end result health wise is the same but sugar costs more (although largely due to subsidies that should probably be removed).

I just find it odd that people latch on to the one study that confirms their beliefs and disregard the hundreds that say otherwise

I could care less about studies. I just listen to my body say ewwwww this is poison don't give it to me. That is good enough for me.

Yep...a least 80% of corn planted is.

See last table...All GE varieties.

Why? We can always export it to our friends in the Taliban....

ffeineandsugar,regarding post #7.1:

Why? We can always export it to our friends in the Taliban....

How about our good friends in China? It seems like they are always sending poison products to us, toys with lead ... toxic drywall ... poison toothpaste ...etc

Eek, the sugar is falling, the sugar is falling!! Do any of you actually think for yourselves?

Do any of you actually think for yourselves?

Actually, we do. We dare to think for ourselves, to investigate the facts, to try to eat healthy, and not to let Rush, Beck, Savage, Coulter, et. al., do the thinking for us.

Eek, the sugar is falling, the sugar is falling!!

If you are trying to be funny, you did a much better job with this seed than with the sugar is falling line. But thanks for trying!

Common Man-1469728,regarding post #7.3:

Eek, the sugar is falling, the sugar is falling!! Do any of you actually think for yourselves?

I most certainly do. That is why I don't automatically fall for Corporate slanted propaganda especially when it comes to issues of my personal health and well being. You see the Corporations only care about profit not my health, so if it profits them to sell me crap that will destroy my health and make them lots of money, I know they will do that in a heart beat.

Which brings me to my question to you Common Man: do you actually think for yourself or do you let the Corporations and their lobbyist do your thinking for you?

Actually we do not need to add sugar to our diet at all. Sugar is not a food group!!! Many foods have added sugar, HFCS, and artificial sweeteners and we absolutely do not need any of it. I am really pissed about what they do to yogurt adding all kinds of BS to it. Fruit already has sugar in it and does not need more.

The body given the right foods makes it own DNA brand of sugar. Nobody needs to have more than 2 grams of added sweetener of any kind unless they are just trying to get sick. Diabetes would end if this horrible practice would stop. It really ought to be against the law.

When making a cake or cookies I half the amount of sugar called for in the recipe and it still taste very good if not better because you can state the other ingredients better.

If people would give up eating all sweetener when they taste it after about a year of not eating it you can taste the chemicals that are used to process it it is pretty yucky.

If you want a really good fire ant killer pour a bottle of diet soda that has been sitting it the sun for a couple of days and they will be gone fast and not come back.

Lisa, Does the body need fruit?

The body can digest fruit quickly. The sugar in fruit is extracted by a natural chemical process during digestion and it is not the same as eating a couple teaspoons of sugar.

Agreed, my point is not so removed from yours, big, fat, stupid, Americans, eat way too much of everything. They drive too much car and live in too much house, killing themselves with too much capitalist "junkie" food.

Lisa, I have a hard time understanding your comment. You say;

Actually we do not need to add sugar to our diet at all. Sugar is not a food group!!!

and then say;

When making a cake or cookies I half the amount of sugar called for in the recipe

which seems just weird to me. Cakes and cookies aren't a food group either. Why are you making cakes and cookies and complaining about sugar?

Because raising children they were around other children who's parents were not a strict as I am when it came to sugar. They did have birthday parties and other gatherings with their friends. So, I got creative with baking so that my children would not be wanting all the prepackaged sweets. Also, I did not use refined white sugar in my baking.

I did not give my children sugar for the first 5 years of their life. When they went to school the teachers gave them candy for a reward and they spit it out because it tasted so bad to them. The teachers called to ask what was wrong with my child that they did not like sugar. I asked them if they had ever gone a couple of years with out eating it and then taste it? If you do not eat it it taste terrible because you taste the chemicals used to process it.

Did you miss the point Kathlene, other countries don't use corn syrup, they use sugar. Olive oil is the healthiest oil and much of it comes from somewhere else, California is just starting to break into the market. The US is the one that screws up foods and drugs, not the other way around. You may ask; why? I will answer because Americans over consume everything, look around you and think about how many people with big fat butts, drive more car than they need, live in more house than they need and push grocery carts filled with too much sugar and fat. Don't even think about blaming other people, this is an American problem; we started it and only we can change the course of the big lumbering ship, whose stern is way to fat.

Good advice.

It does however, take a helluva lot more time to do the weekly grocery shopping, but I don't mind

Yes it does...and since manufacturers tend to change the ingredients even product that once were on my list ended up going onto my sh*t list.

Also the artificial sweetener aspartame does not have to have a symbol on the label anymore indicating that it is in there. A new trick they have is listing the component ingredients of aspartame.

For refference these ingredients might be listed alone:

Formic acid

Tyrosine
Dopamine
Norepinephrine
Epinephrine
Diketopiperazine (DKP)
Phenylethylamine
Phenylpyruvate
Phenylactic acid
Phenylacetic acid

I have seen all the above ingredients in yogurt.

Walk'n & Lisa - Thanks, these are good additions to the ever growing knowledge base.

I might add also, that many products which claim 0 Trans Fats on the label, actually contain Trans Fats! That is why you must search the ingredient list for the phrase partially hydrogenated. And if that alone weren't insulting enough, they are allowed to legally claim '0 Trans Fats', because the labeling requirement is based on the per serving quantity. But who amongst us doesn't eat more than one serving of anything? So not only are you ingesting Trans Fats (when you thought the truth in labeling thing would protect you) but you are probably ingesting way more than you ever would, if you were well aware of it.

I might add also, that many products which claim 0 Trans Fats on the label, actually contain Trans Fats! That is why you must search the ingredient list for the phrase partially hydrogenated.

Good point...Thanks to lobbyists for the food industry they can use the ingredients and as long as it doesn't have a certain percent per serving they can make false claims...and they can adjust serving size to fit the numbers...etc.

They also hope you do not know hydrogenated means trans fat. Just reading the ingredients doesn't mean you know what it is...you have to research that too.

Glad people are becoming aware.

People think the FDA protects our food supply. The FDA is about pandering to big Agra and Big Pharma and receiving their funds from them.

Food doesn't need to have so many additives it needs to be simple with the most basic ingredients. Simple foods needs refrigeration. People need to buy smaller quantities and shop more often.

People in the USA are saturated with advertisement which encourages gluttony. Adults do not need to eat 3 meals a day and should fast at least one day a week. The more physically active a person is the more they can metabolize the less active among us should eat very little and not more than once a day. People need lots of light and fresh air these are nutrients that make a person healthy. A person can live for days without food and only a few minutes without air which do you think is the most important?

People are very similar to plants they need oxygen, water, and light. All this HFCS, artificial sweeteners,and added sugar is killing people and that is the plain truth. You don't need to be a chemistry major to understand this. We in the USA need to get back to basics.

#12: After how many years of research and study - come on people. This is a simple substance.

A lot of the research and study is instigated and paid for by the industry that wants you to buy it. I don't even fully trust government studies, because many of those researchers come from the private sector where fixed and bogus results originated in the first place. The best we can do is go by the preponderance of the evidence, or be safe rather than sorry and refuse to buy anything we consider suspect. My attitude is simple: if in doubt, toss it out. There are always alternatives to just about anything, so we're not 100% stuck with no choices. Yet. That is changing, though, as GMO stuff permeates everything.

12.1 - Honestly - I was a nurse and do not know of any individual that ever died of salt-ingestion. Sorry.

We make choices as adults - what I see with this article and others like are competitors - that is all - attempting to remove life from our food -

All you have to do is get on the web and do a little research any day to see what it is you are eating.

Or - you can keep reading this crap - but you know - that is why we have the FDA - yay for them - they help to keep us alive.

It's called responsibility in government. It's not all bad - the United States could be like say...Russia and not care what we eat.

that is why we have the FDA

yea right

And it's the parents bringing them in and buying the junk.

Not this parent...but the schools reward the kids for good behavior and grades with candy etc. It is handed out at soccer games...have a snickers before the game etc. It's was sold in vending machines at the schools in exchange for funding certain things for the schools (Coke and Pepsi) as well as other ways to get it...so don't assume it's just parents buying this stuff for the kids. The bank still gives me a dirty look when I turn down the suckers offered to my kids every time I use the drive through.

If I want heroin I want it in a pure form! No additives no HFCS and no trans-fat!

Well John I guess you are correct but I will never understand the need for greed at the expense of people's health. In my old age I have taken to reading food labels and will not buy anything with this kind of crap in it. I saw a small frozen pizza with 12 grams of trans-fat! I imagine the corn syrup was just as bad.

I don't think there is that much difference, really. The real issue here is that people eat too much food that is packed with calories and devoid of any nutritional value.

As a general rule, HFCS on a label is a good indicator that a food was designed to meet our junk food cravings, not to be nutritious or filling. If they replace HFCS with sugar, junk food will still be junk food.

This is just another a case of us Americans casting blame when we should be taking it upon ourselves to make better choices about our behavior. We will still be fat and unhealthy if HFCS is banned and we continue to eat bonbons all day...then who will we blame?

Sugar beets are ball busters: I know. I grew them.

Some commonly used sweeteners contain trisaccharides and higher saccharides. Corn syrups contain large amounts of these saccharides; for example, only 33 percent or less of the carbohydrates in some corn syrups are mono- and disaccharides; the remaining 67 percent or more are trisaccharides and higher saccharides (Glinsmann et al., 1986). This may lead to an underestimation of the intake of sugars if the trisaccharides and higher saccharides are not included in an analysis.

Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.

Higher sugars play key roles in metabolism and health...

Some ‘modern’ diseases,
such as coronary heart disease, some cancers or osteoporosis
are thought to be associated at least in part with these
changes in dietary patterns (Fraser, 1999).

What does it do the brain? What does it do to the liver? What does it do to the kidneys? It is not processed the same as natural sugars including sucrose. It triggers leptin resistance, insulin resistance, as well as disrupting a lot of other potential metabolic functions. Just like trans fats the body does not know how to deal with it so it will store it. The brain doesn't know when it is full etc....

Sugars are used in various ways in the body...and it is known that HFCS prevents the brain from knowing you are full...nice addictive quality means more consumption.

designed to meet our junk food cravings

And cause them.

This is just another a case of us Americans casting blame when we should be taking it upon ourselves to make better choices about our behavior.

Education in nutrition is important...for our food has become too industrialized and people do not understand what they are eating. Look at all the false advertisements on "healthy" there are. Lite, fat free, etc...none of them are good for you but they are pushed. Food guides say to eat more cereal...but yet look at the ingredients. Hydrogenated oils, HFCS, Corn syrup, modified corn starch etc. But the box will say healthy whole grain...

My favorite was olesterol...anal leakage potato chips.

Brands I used to buy because they were good-were purchased by the big corps and now have the ingredients I tried to avoid...my daughter got sick again...so I have to read every label every time I shop. Pain in the butt!!!

The store I shop had a sale on Kellogg's some outrageous sale like 10 for $10. I looked to see if any of the cereals didn't have HFCS or hydrogenated oils as well as other ingredients that are unhealthy...nope not one.

It has become a science in itself to produce foods that will maximize profit instead of promote health and the corn industry and companies like Monsanto are right in the middle of it lobbying for labels that misrepresent their products.

By law, the FDA only requires food companies to list trans fat content if their food contains 0.5 grams or more of it in one serving. That means if the food contains exactly 0.49999 grams of trans fat per serving, they get to say their food contains 0 grams of trans fat. Yup, it's insanely stupid. But, that's how it is. That means if you eat a few servings of a food like this, you could end up eating a few grams of trans fat without even knowing it. And even if you just eat the 1 serving, ANY trans fat is still too much trans fat, no matter what the amount.

So don't you think articles like this one are at least a good place for others to learn what ingredients can cause health problems? And learn the different names of the same ingredients that they are trying to avoid?

I do place blame on the ones who mislead consumers...we need to be educated to go to the store just to buy food that will promote health (or at least not hinder it)...but many of them claim to promote health from granola bars to yogurts.

Walk'n Dead, I'm not one for blaming the manufacturer that manufacturers products that sell.

Next time your at the grocery store, look at other peoples shopping carts, they are usually filled with junk. Why? Because people are too lazy to purchase food that is actually food.

Turduken, I totally agree, people want to blame the fact they are fat on someone else.

Food companies ought not be allowed to put their hypnotic advertisement on children's TV programing either especially foods that are full of sugar, and HFCS, and GMO's. People are very vulnerable to this. I know that many times while out shopping I hear a jingle in my head and reach for a product that is full of stuff I do not want or need. If someone who is aware of it can be swayed just imagine how people who do not have the same awareness can be swayed.

I think all advertisement on TV is very dangerous.

Next time your at the grocery store, look at other peoples shopping carts, they are usually filled with junk. Why?

Another reason why is that the "junk food" is also the "cheap food". If you are trying to meet a budget it can be hard to eat healthy. If corn wasn't so heavily subsidised they would either have to use less HFCS or sugar or raise the price. Less sweetener means better for you and higher price means less people will bye it and probably move to a healthier choice.

Me and my wife eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and could probably feed a family of three or four on our same budget if we didn't eat healthy.

Because people are too lazy to purchase food that is actually food.

So we should have to read every package every time we shop because companies lobby against what goes on the labels? Lazy is far from it...misinformed is more like it.

people want to blame the fact they are fat on someone else.

I'm not fat. I'm not blaming weight on the industry but it is becoming increasingly harder to find foods without corn products/sweeteners and hydrogenated oils etc...even if the package claims it. My grocery shopping takes longer and longer...and the terminology that had to be learned...you really think that it's ok? The brand of yogurt I use to purchase for my daughter, she will vomit if she eats HFCS, started using HFCS last year...discovered that after she got sick again. Same with a brand of cereal last year. It has become work...and I'm not lazy...I'll do it...or my daughter will get sick again. Another product I liked just added an artificial sweetener to it...I picked up on it in one taste...then read the label again...sure enough.

What's so hard about manufacturers putting the ingredients on the labels in terms that people can understand? Instead they use other names for the same thing so you have to do research to know what you're eating. Insane.

I'm not one for blaming others either...as long as the playing field is even. Misrepresenting the product and/or receiving subsidies don't meet that criteria.

Yes, I have a pre-existing bias for the results of this study, but I didn't do the study.

Misrepresenting the product and/or receiving subsidies don't meet that criteria.

Bingo.

So true.

At least one study associated a virus with obesity. Don't be too sure you know what's going on.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20070820/obesity-virus-more-bigger-fat-cells

Check it out; then think if obesity is an infection, then what other human traits are infections? (Twilight music - da da da).

Viruses and bacteria need certain conditions to live...and we could be producing just that with the foods we eat, medications etc. Look at yeast infections and how prevalent they are even in people who were not prone to them 20 years ago. It's a balance that we have messed with.

Do you understand that some studies suggest that the reason people consume more calories than they need is because of their consumption of hfcs?

And most obese people are actually suffering from malnutrition due to the poor quality of nutrients in high caloric density foods. They actually need to take supplements to get their metabolism to function properly which most diet plans do not do...they just cut calories. It reeks havoc on the metabolic processes. That is why the weight is easily put back on.

Do you understand that some studies suggest that the reason people consume more calories than they need is because of their consumption of hfcs?

Do you understand that for every study suggesting that there is a another study that never mentions that?

Unfortunately, for every person that educates themselves and act, many more don't or can't which indicates that government intervention is needed at some level.

Then first close down the FDA. They are doing a terrible job at keeping us safe. I think the public does a better job of informing otherwise this would not be going on at all. It is the educated public that has caused this information to go main stream not the FDA. The FDA is busy accepting bribes from the food companies and determining a safe level of poisons that can be allowed in foods. Basically as long as people do not drop dead when they pick up a package off the shelf it is okay. In fact the packaging is probably safer to eat than the product in many cases.

Manufactured sweeteners of all kinds can be linked to serious disorders. I wonder how many people have dropped dead after eating something with aspartame in it and it is called a heart attack of some sort when actually it is the aspartame in their diet soda?

I wonder how many people have dropped dead after eating something with aspartame in it and it is called a heart attack of some sort when actually it is the aspartame in their diet soda?

Probably not as many as have lived.

I like to parade slowly by the huge people at the buffet, with my 4-oz steak, three little tomatoes, and a side of peas. Leaves room for yummy cherry glop with ice cream too.

Just because you get a big portion doesn't mean you have to eat it in one sitting. Doggy bag it.