Serious Implications

Upside down and backwards with it!

As I write this, I have in front of me next to the keyboard a 15-ounce can of Spartan brand yellow cling peach halves. They are the “lite” variety packed in pear juice from concentrate. On the back label is a comparison to the other variety they sell, which is packed in “heavy syrup.” It says:

Calorie comparison (per 1/2 cup serving)
Peach halves in heavy syrup…90
Peach halves in pear juice……50

Assuming the company is on the up and up, that’s a 45% reduction in calories using the pear juice sweetener. The “lite” peaches are plenty sweet without the corn based “heavy syrup” found in the other, more common variety.

After seeing some success eliminating trans fat from some foods, I think an outright boycott of High Fructose Corn Syrup is in order.

From Dr. Mirkin’s High Fructose Corn Syrup and Obesity (references at end of quote):

Several recent studies have shown that fructose is processed differently in the body than the far more common sugar, glucose (3,4). Glucose causes the pancreas to release insulin which drives sugar from the bloodstream into cells. Glucose causes fat cells to release leptin that makes you feel full so you eat less. Glucose prevents the stomach from releasing ghrelin that makes you hungry. On the other hand, fructose does not cause fat cells to release leptin and does not suppress ghrelin. This means that fructose increases hunger to make you eat more. Furthermore, the liver converts fructose far more readily to a body fat called triglyceride, than it does with glucose. High triglyceride levels raise blood levels of the bad LDL cholesterol and lower blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol, which increases heart attack risk.

1) Lancet 2001;357:505-08.
2) European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 1999, Vol 8, Iss 4, pp 289-295.
3) American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 76, No. 5, 911-922, November 2002.
4) Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes 2002 Thema: Poster Diabetes, Metabolism and Gastrointestinal Hormones. p184.
5) American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November, 2002.

The corn syrup lobby claims that corn syrup is not significantly different than cane sugar, pointing out that some of the damning studies on corn syrup were conducted on animals, not humans. Even if their claims hold merit, they can not deny the ubiquitous use of this product as an additive in processed foods where it is often hidden and unexpected. Recently, I was surprised to see it listed in the little package of soda crackers that came with a small chili from Wendy’s.

Perhaps the most significant negative dietary development since about 1980 is the increase in total sweeteners used (sugar + corn syrup) in our overall diet. This fact is illustrated by the graph in this post.

We Americans are now consuming about 62 pounds of corn syrup a year, over a pound per week of empty calories to support a $4.5 billion industry. We’re fat. Our kids are getting fat.
We don’t need this crap. Grow something nutritious and send it Haiti, dammit!

Eric Armstrong has an idea for a successful boycott. When shopping at the grocery, he suggests, when you find a product containing corn syrup, turn the package upside down and backwards and replace it on the shelf.

It’s a start.