Industrial Grade Sweeteners

The Corn Refiners Association was recently dismayed by a study finding detectable mercury in 31% of sampled products sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup.   After a multi million dollar industry ad campaign to promote HFCS's safety "in moderation... just like any sugar", written about here last year,  the CRA is now hard pressed to to make the "just like any sugar" case when their product has a secret ingredient most people don't want to ingest.   

Tom Philpott has written an excellent article outlining the peer-reviewed report published by the journal of Environmental Health on Gristmill.  

The CRA of course finds fault with the study, you can read their outraged press release here. 

One might ask at this point, how does mercury get into HFCS in the first place.  The CRA would tell you that the mercury found could have come from anywhere and furthermore, "the amounts of mercury the authors and the IATP purport to have found in food products containing HFCS are far below levels of concern set by the U.S> FDA and the EPA."   But the fact of the matter is that this highly toxic chemical can be traced to two of the many chemicals used to create HFCS.  And the millions of parents with HFCS-guzzling children may want to rethink how "natural" this sweetener made from corn truly is...

Now the American Dietetic Association, which is in part bankrolled by food industry moguls such as Coca Cola, stands by the assertion that HFCS is "nutritionally equivalent to sucrose."  And this is true, strictly speaking, when talking about weight or blood sugar control.  But when are we as a profession, going to admit that food is more than the sum of its parts?  While calorically similar, HFCS is a product of the industrialized agricultural and food system.  The ADA states in a white paper on the subject, "HFCS is a controversial topic and although not all nutrition professionals will readily accept the scientific evidence, this paper represents an evidenced-based, balanced perspective."  Well- this nutrition professional believes this is a very narrow view of one of the quintessential controversies of our time.  

Bottom line:  

While HFCS is calorically equivalent to other sweeteners, it may contain traces of mercury and stems from an industrial food system that does not support health and wellness of people or places.  Choose more sustainable options such as honey, maple syrup, and organic, fair-trade sugar to sweeten your day, in moderation of course ;)