To Eat It or Not To Eat It

For supper last night we had pit barbequed beef.  Every other year for as long as I can remember our county Cattlemens Association has done a pit beef barbeque at our county fair.  It is the best prepared roastbeef in the world and the first bite made me smile all over. The best part is that the Cattlemen make extra to sell so we can enjoy a taste of summer all year round.

Certain people in this family have to have ketchup on their roastbeef which I consider sacrilegious but that is another topic.  Any way I got a new bottle of ketchup out of the pantry and I noticed that across the front in bold letters a new label proclaiming this ketchup had No High Fructose Corn Syrup in it.  I let out a gasp that caught #2's attention.  He read the label after I showed him and of course he wanted to know how his mother could buy such a thing.  Obviously, on one of my weekly pilgrimages to the grocery store I grabbed the bottle of ketchup I always buy out of habit and never looked back.
 

With all the commotion #1 and #3 also showed up.  The discussion then led to why the manufacturer took the corn sugar out.  As I explained to the boys, there is a lot of misinformation about our food and that sugar made from corn is perfectly fine to eat.  All three boys decided that it was awful that the fructose was taken out of our ketchup.  Number 2 went so far as to say we should just throw out the whole bottle.  Number 3, who is affectionately known as the human garbage disposal in our family, was a little more practical and offered to eat the entire bottle for us.  I informed the boys that since ConAgra already had a our money we might as well eat the ketchup and pay better attention to labels from here on out.

Here are some facts about high fructose corn syrup that you can bank on:

High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar that is handled by your body the same as sugar or honey.

“When high-fructose corn syrup and sugar are absorbed into our bloodstream, the two are indistinguishable by the body.”
Joan Salge Blake, M.S., R.D., L.D.N., Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, Redbook, June 2010

Many people do not realize that high fructose corn syrup is composed of the same simple sugars found in table sugar and honey — glucose and fructose — in virtually the same ratios.

“White sugar, brown sugar, sucrose, honey, maple syrup, even high-fructose corn syrup are all roughly the same mix of the simple sugars called glucose and fructose.”
Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., Nutrition and Health Expert for The TODAY Show, Woman’s Day, May 1, 2010

A sugar is a sugar whether it comes from corn sugar or cane sugar. All are safe and natural. Your body can’t tell the difference.

“Regardless if it’s honey, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup or just plain sugar, we metabolize it the same.” Carrie Taylor, R.D., L.D.N., Registered Dietitian for Big Y Foods, ABC 40 News At 12, April 8, 2009

This information was taken from the Corn Refiners Association website. 
I am disappointed that food manufacturers are giving in to special interest groups that see corn sweetners as a threat.  Corn sweetners have been on the market for fourty years.  These sweetners are an economical source to use to keep food prices in line for the consumer.  I find it very interesting that corn is being blamed for high food prices at the same time that manufacturers are taking corn out of the foods they produce.  Hmmmm...