Sugar Replacing HFCS in Popular Drinks
Kimberly Rae Miller

You know all those commercials, paid for by the Corn Refiners Association, set out to defend the honor of High Fructose Corn Syrup? Apparently they’re not working.

Many manufacturers of popular foods and beverages like Snapple, Log Cabin Pancake Syrup, Ocean Spray Juice, and a slew of other popular brands, are trading out HFCS for sugar due to customer belief.  Even our First Lady, Michelle Obama, says she refuses serve anything containing the synthesized sweetener to her daughters.

What’s so bad about HFCS you may ask, well the main difference between sugar and HFCS is that the fructose in HFCS isn’t broken down before it gets to the liver (even our magically wondrous bodies can’t figure out how to do it), so HFCS is is converted directly to fat.  So, while sugar in general isn’t a good addition to our diets and can contribute to obesity and metabolic syndrome, HFCS is particularly bad.

Here’s one of the Corn Association Ads…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0[/youtube]

Critics of the switch think that somehow people will start to think that sugary snacks are all sorts of healthy, as long as they’re made with real sugar and not evil-sugar-impostor-monster HFCS.  So, let’s make this clear, sugar regardless of its form should be enjoyed in moderation.  It is still high in calories and generally useless in regard to health.

Those same critics also make the argument that sugar is more expensive than HFCS (hence, the reason it became so popular to begin with) so that will cause already high food costs to sky-rocket.

I say, if money be your woes, there will still be plenty of HFCS laden snacks available, but when it comes to sugar goodness, I’ll stick to the sweet stuff that is the lesser evil.