Wow.....am i confused now

luvchi3

I saw a commercial last night making it sound like HFCS isn't bad for you, and i understand that if you eat anything processed or prepackaged it probably contains things that are not good for you so the best you can do is try to limit your intake of such foods. So today I decided to check some of the foods I brought for lunch, one of which was rye bread, now the label says it contains sugar as one of the ingredients however on the nutritional information it lists sugar at 0g! How can this be if it lists sugar as an ingredient?

luvchi3

I saw a commercial last night making it sound like HFCS isn't bad for you, and i understand that if you eat anything processed or prepackaged it probably contains things that are not good for you so the best you can do is try to limit your intake of such foods. So today I decided to check some of the foods I brought for lunch, one of which was rye bread, now the label says it contains sugar as one of the ingredients however on the nutritional information it lists sugar at 0g! How can this be if it lists sugar as an ingredient?

mlillie

I saw the same commercial - Sponsered by the corn association that makes Corn Syrup so i am very very skeptical!

luvchi3

I saw the same commercial - Sponsered by the corn association that makes Corn Syrup so i am very very skeptical!

Yeah i know i was quite skeptical too. and my sister looked at me and said "i'm confused i thought hfcs is bad for you" and i said "yeah i think so"

it was kinda strange

songbyrdsweet

It's just like any sugar--not to be eaten in excess. You wouldn't eat a lb of apples, drink a cup of maple sugar, or eat 6 potatoes, would you? Of course not, but you still eat them. They all contain the same types of sugars found in HFCS- fructose and glucose. Since you eat them in moderation, they aren't harmful, they are just a source of calories.

pauladavies86

I saw the commercial and totally scoffed! what a load of crap! high fructose corn syrup IS bad for you! Sure, you can have little bits of it here and there and it won't kill you but it sure isn't good for you!

songbyrdsweet

Well I'm curious...it's bad compared to what? Table sugar? Honey? MSG? I'm really curious to see how this image came about, apart from being present in processed foods. Would you use it to cook with? Would you eat high glucose beet crystalit? j/w

(I'm running to class now so I won't be able to respond, but I really am interested in this...okay, I'm a dork. :bigsmile: )

LovelyLady1977

Here's my response from another thread about this same thing:

Interesting indeed. Just goes to show that for every article about something being bad, there's one that says just the opposite (i.e. carbs, fat, sugar). It's getting so bad that we don't know who or what to believe nowadays. I remember reading the other day that tilapia was not good for you :noway: :noway: I've learned to take most of these articles with a grain of salt. Moderation is the key to everything.

mlillie

This is what I have read about it

"So how does high fructose corn syrup make people fatter? Even though it is sweet like sugar, HFCS is digested much differently. Research shows that HFCS goes directly to the liver, releasing instructions for the body to store fat. This elevates triglyceride (fat in blood) levels and cholesterol levels. It is also believed that HFCS may slow fat burning and cause weight gain. And still other research indicates that it does not stimulate insulin production, which usually creates the body’s sense of being full. Therefore, people may eat more than they should. While there is no single cause to the enormous rise in obesity, it is clear to many healthcare professionals that HFCS is part of the problem."

Yuck!

luvchi3

Well I'm curious...it's bad compared to what? Table sugar? Honey? MSG? I'm really curious to see how this image came about, apart from being present in processed foods. Would you use it to cook with? Would you eat high glucose beet crystalit? j/w

(I'm running to class now so I won't be able to respond, but I really am interested in this...okay, I'm a dork. :bigsmile: )

i'd say compared to naturally occuring foods, i think if it wasn't put on this planet to begin with and was something we created we probably don't actually need it.

i'm not saying it can completely be avoided but all forms of sugar are linked to health problems and obesity so therefore are unhealthy, maybe it isn't worse than table sugar or any other form but none of them are good for you.

the key really is moderation you wouldn't eat raw cane sugar all day with everything even though it is a natural form.

luvchi3

What I'm actually confused on is why my bread lists sugar as an ingredient however it lists 0g of sugar in the nutritional information. Even if it is less than a gram shouldn't it list <1g instead of 0g?

dkell

Unfortunately comercials seem to make everyone confused.:ohwell: Research does the same thing. One time a research says one thing is bad for you another time it says its good for you - like coffee for instance. I heard that when you drink coffee it stimulates your appitite and can lead to over eating- not too long ago I heard about other research that claims coffee is good for your brain function. I think we all just need to eat or drink everything in moderation.

may_marie

why am i not surprised ... the food industry is a scary place. now its trying to make you believe that hfcs isnt all that bad ... what next ....

so isntead of loking at why hfcs is good .. i looked up the danger of it .. here is what i found

So, why is HFCS so bad for you? Researchers and nutritionists say that the
body doesn't digest, absorb and metabolize fructose the way it does sugar,
thus not triggering responses in hormones that regulate appetite and energy
use. This results in the body forcing the liver to convert the fructose into
fat and triggering the urge to want to eat more.

the urge to want more.................. to buy more .. not surprise that the food industry would want to do such thing.

According to a recent article in the American Journal for Clinical
Nutrition(1), high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the possible culprit for the
obesity epidemic in America. HFCS, which has been linked to diseases such as
obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer among
others,

i agree that once in a while it wont kill you, it just scares me that a food can make you addicted, and makes me sick. just the fact that the commercial was paid by a supportive organization makes me nervous about the whole thing, and obviously it works, because already a lot of people are changing their mind on hfcs...

anyways .. its all very interesting,
may

lotusfromthemud

What I'm actually confused on is why my bread lists sugar as an ingredient however it lists 0g of sugar in the nutritional information. Even if it is less than a gram shouldn't it list <1g instead of 0g?

bread is mostly flour and water, so even though there's sugar in the ingredients, it's probably a relatively small amount. For example, when I bake whole wheat bread, I put a tablespoon in an entire loaf, so broken down by slice.

Also, because of food labeling laws (which have a lot of flaws, IMHO) if there's <1, they can say "zero". It's how PAM spray, which is oil, is listed as zero calories. . .serving size makes it <1. . .so "point" something. But if it's not one, it's zero.

MFS27

HFCS does have a bad rap - and I think for the wrong reason. I'm not a HFCS proponent (hold the tomatoes!) however sugar (refined or not) in general is not good for us. Since the majority of highly processed food with little nutritonal value (i.e. cakes, soda, etc.) have HFCS - it makes sense to avoid them. I would not encourage guzzling a gallon of honey or cane sugar either - all in moderation.

Part of the reason we have so much HFCS in our food is because the government has set an artificial market for corn - the taxes on cane sugar are MUCH higher in the US than elsewhere, and the corn farmers rely on government subsidies - gotta do something with all that corn - I know, make a highly processed, nutritionally worthless sweetener! Coca-Cola uses cane sugar in their soda sold out of the US, but uses HFCS in the US... either one (cane sugar or HFCS) is not the best thing you can blow 100-200 calories on.

The best thing to eat (IMHO) are whole foods - as close to their natural state. Be careful of what you read - make sure to do some research on your own, and typically the truth will lie in between everything you see/hear.

songbyrdsweet

why am i not surprised ... the food industry is a scary place. now its trying to make you believe that hfcs isnt all that bad ... what next ....

so isntead of loking at why hfcs is good .. i looked up the danger of it .. here is what i found

So, why is HFCS so bad for you? Researchers and nutritionists say that the
body doesn't digest, absorb and metabolize fructose the way it does sugar,
thus not triggering responses in hormones that regulate appetite and energy
use. This results in the body forcing the liver to convert the fructose into
fat and triggering the urge to want to eat more.

the urge to want more.................. to buy more .. not surprise that the food industry would want to do such thing.

According to a recent article in the American Journal for Clinical
Nutrition(1), high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the possible culprit for the
obesity epidemic in America. HFCS, which has been linked to diseases such as
obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer among
others,

i agree that once in a while it wont kill you, it just scares me that a food can make you addicted, and makes me sick. just the fact that the commercial was paid by a supportive organization makes me nervous about the whole thing, and obviously it works, because already a lot of people are changing their mind on hfcs...

anyways .. its all very interesting,
may

Plenty of foods can cause addiction. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and anything containing those ingredients--they all contain caffeine.

Of course the body doesn't metabolize all sugars the same. How could it? Enzymes only act on ONE substrate, and since we only use glucose and fructose in glycolysis, what do we do with other types of sugars? First, we have to break them apart, and then we might have to phosphorylate them to turn them into glucose, which is the only substrate that can enter glycolysis. We don't metabolize ANYTHING the same way, because it's physically impossible. Does it go directly to the liver? Yes, just like ANY sugar. The lumen of the small intestine soaks up our dietary sugars, and they travel through the blood stream to the liver, where they're stored as glycogen. (Some glycogen is stored in the muscles as well). Does sugar promote triglyceride formation? Absolutely, when eaten in excess. When liver glycogen is full, excess glucose is used to form fats. It doesn't matter whether you're eating a cookie, a piece of bread, an apple, or corn. If your glycogen levels are full, you're producing fat past that point.

As far as HFCS and appetite regulation...it's a glucose-containing sugar. Glucose causes blood sugar and insulin spikes, resulting in overcompensation and sharp decreases in BG levels following consumption, so you'll want to eat again. The same thing would happen if you consumed sugar. HFCS isn't good for you, but it's not any worse than regular old sugar. It's just a different name for the same thing, and you can link both to diabetes, obesity, etc.

Molly hit the nail on the head- eat it in moderation, and just recognize that it's simply a cheap replacement, not a deadly toxin.