Is Corn Syrup Sugar?

. . . yes.

damn. 0 for 2. I'll just be quiet now.

damn. 0 for 2. I'll just be quiet now.

It's not a contest!

I only learned about HFCS recently. Same with MSG, but that was a bit earlier because it was making me physically ill and I had to figure out what was what so I didn't eat what was going to make me sick. It wasn't until then that I realized how food labeling has become so incredibly creepy and misinforming.

Okay, I'll stop now...

I am just waiting for them to invent that magic weight loss pill.

They already did, but what they didn't tell you (because they don't HAVE to with the new vague labeling laws) is that when you take it you have to wear a diaper. ;-)

Corn syrup has a bad rap. Like they said, it is metabolized the same as sugar in the body, but there is some stigma attached to it. So it's simply a PR move.

corn syrup has a purpose...in entertainment it is a good base for fake blood (just add chocolate syrup and red food dye)

we NEED corn syrup for zombie and vampire cosplay!!

it is metabolized the same as sugar in the body,

Actually, it's not, according to this Princeton study last year.

High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. 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.

This creates a fascinating puzzle. The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered, but may relate to the fact that excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.

Proved me wrong.

As a diabetic, I assure you HFCS and cane sugar are most definitely not the same. Nor are they processed in the same manner by the body.

Pull a personal experiment for 30 days. Go through your cupboards and eliminate everything in there that contain any corn syrup products. (grab all the msg products too!) The first couple of days HFCS and MSG free are going to be hard. By the end of the month you'll find yourself feeling great, you'll have more energy and actually be less crank-i-fide.

There are dozens of different names for these products, look them up.

By the end of the month you'll find yourself feeling great,

Eh, by the end of the first DAY or two, I'll find myself murdered in my sleep by my partner and kids! :-P

By the end of the month you'll find yourself feeling great, you'll have more energy and actually be less crank-i-fide.

This is true. I feel so much stronger and healthier when I am careful about what I consume.

I'm just the opposite -- when I eat healthy by body rebels against me (more migraines, bitchier). Yay chocolate, the cure for everything :)

Yay chocolate, the cure for everything :)

Yes it is! But good quality chocolate does not have all that vile, nasty stuff in it. Talk about to die for yummy goodness.... Mmmmm....

Eh, by the end of the first DAY or two, I'll find myself murdered in my sleep by my partner and kids! :-P

Oh my! Well in that case, I can certainly see where you would not be feeling 'totally great'.
lol

Throw chocolate at them, that might help.

Throw chocolate at them, that might help.

Never share your chocolate. Tell them to go get their own, and enjoy the peace and quiet while they are gone doing just that.

I didn't say you had to throw the good stuff. That's strictly for personal consumption. Keeping a bag of the cheap stuff handy for emergencies such as staving off the marauding hordes (kids/SO) is always a good idea.

; )

Well.... Some of that cheap stuff can be pretty good. I don't share my 99 cent cookies-n-cream Palmer's. (Of course, I don't have kids around, so no harm done.)

Lucky- I was joking a little. I have been trying to avoid sugar and particularly HFCS but I do use honey sometimes. I haven't heard good things about aspartame either.

A shot does sound good right about now.

I have noticed no ill effects, ill effects, ill effects.

LOL! I HATE the way it tastes. It doesn't go to the "sweet" place, it just tastes...slimy. Sometimes I accidentally buy a drink that has aspartame in it and it hits me with the first mouthful. Pleh.