The Good Food Campaign

High fructose corn syrup, sugar and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same, according to Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association. She says that High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

That last statement though, is the rub. If you really want to eat food with less calories, and better nutritional values, then it’s recommended to cut out the empty calories that come with ALL calorific sweeteners, including both regular sugar, and HFCS.

So TGFC still thinks it’s a good idea to avoid HFCS as part of a sensible diet regimen.

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Ever heard of it? TGFC suspects that many people haven’t. It’s been used as a zero-calorie sweetener for many years in other countries, but the US FDA has taken its time on approving it, on the grounds of safety.

Perhaps, it was more a case of the food processing giants not wanting to make a switch from products such as Equal and Splenda?

Coca Cola and Pepsi are ready to include it in some of their drinks, and it’s now been given approval for use.

What is Stevia?

It comes from the Stevia plant. The leaves are naturally sweet, and the products derived from these leaves are highly concentrated.

The jury is still out on what effects existing artificial sweeteners have on the body, and of course there is, of yet, no long-term data available for Stevia.

TFGC’s take on it is still the same, use natural cane sugar, and use as little as possible. Work towards cutting sugars and/or sweeteners from your diet.

Quit drinking soda of all kinds, and drink more water instead. Watch out for restaurant items, and eat fresh and not processed food.

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It’s all over the place. It’s ubiquitous in the American diet. It makes huge profits for the companies that produce it, and it’s around 6 times sweeter than natural sugar.

However, if eating something sweet leaves you feeling bloated and yucky, check the label on what you’ve eaten.

It could be that darn HFCS.

Like we said it’s found all over the place. It’s in soda, salad dressings, cereals, and other sweet desserts. What happens is this. Apart from it being empty calories that do you no use at all, except help to make you fat, it doesn’t always get digested properly by the body, and then it gets attacked by the bacteria that occur naturally in your gut. This can lead to excessive gas, and even diarhea.

A recent survey found it to be quite common. The best way to check if it’s what’s making you feel full, and your family and friends think you’re anti-social, is to quit eating and drinking anything with HFCS in for a week. If those symptoms stop, you’ve possibly cracked it.

Of course, if your symptoms continue, they whisk yourself off to a doctor. We’d always advocate you do this if you’re ever worried about your health. TGFC doesn’t pretend to be any kind of substitute for professional medical advice – ever.

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