High Fructose Corn Syrup Might Make You Stupid

A "corn sugar" fan.

Now, this would explain a lot. They put high fructose corn syrup in every damned thing. I don't know why they do, but they do. How do I know? Because I've been on a slightly modified version of the Atkins Diet most of the time (with wagon falls) over the last five or six years. When you start reading nutritional information, and start wondering, why does this salad have 15,742 grams of carbs? You realize they've pumped everything full of "corn sugar." Yes, they really call it that now. Time was, food producers were scared of the word "sugar." Super Sugar Crisp became Golden Crisp (after a journey through Super Honey Crisp and probably others, with a mascot formerly called Sugar Bear!). But when you have an unnatural product like HFCS that you desperately want to seem "natural," you call it sugar.

So, now that much of America looks like People of Wal-Mart, and those people have decided to be arch-conservative tea baggers, you have to wonder where that all comes from. Corn sugar! It's making them stupid! It all makes so much sense now.


[Excerpt]

High fructose corn syrup might make you stupid

Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats' memories. . .

Read more at: AmericaBlog

Addition to My Diet Soda Addiction: TAB!

Photo from source, Wikipedia

If artificial sweetener is truly a harmful substance, I'm in big, big trouble. They're using quite a variety of them lately, and producing a lot of very tasty diet sodas. And I'm addicted to diet soda.

I used to be a confirmed Pepsi drinker, full-sugar variety. But that was many years ago, when my metabolism allowed me to eat or drink most anything. Lucky for me, right about the time I had to start watching my weight, soda makers started making some more interesting diet versions. I used to really hate diet colas. I was so used to Pepsi, Coke and RC, and the diet versions didn't taste anything like them. Diet Sprite and Diet 7UP were ok, but kinda boring. Then came my favorite, Diet Mountain Dew.

I didn't know it at the time, but Mountain Dew has a horrible reputation in the Midwest as a hillbilly drink. And it isn't unfounded, if 20/20 is to be believed. But out here in Las Vegas, fortunately, what soda you drink doesn't define your personality. And if it did, mine would be all over the place. I have my favorites, but tend to buy what is on sale. Soda prices have gone way up for some reason, so it's good to be flexible. I'll even buy store brands, if they're tasty.

Today, I found that Coke products were on sale. So as I was digging through the stack to find Fresca Peach Citrus, I also found Tab! Tab and Fresca were both pioneers of diet sodas, dating back to the 60s. Fresca has been back on our shelves for years, with new flavors, but I haven't seen Tab in years.

I eventually warmed (cooled?) to diet colas, but they usually aren't my first choice. Even here, there are lots of options these days. My favorites are the ones with lime, or the "alternate" diet versions of Coke and Pepsi, with different sweeteners. Oh, and Tab is a pretty great diet cola too.

Anyway, for no other reason than it's a lazy weekend, here are my rankings of diet soda varieties. And remember, however "dangerous" artificial sweeteners are, I'll take the risk over high-fructose corn syrup any day.

Best: Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew Code Red, Fresca Peach Citrus, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Pepsi Lime, Diet Coke Lime, Diet Cherry 7UP, Diet Sierra Mist Ruby Splash, Tab.

Good: Diet Sierra Mist, Diet Vernors, Diet Orange Crush, Diet Sunkist, Diet 7UP, Diet Sprite, Fresca Sparkling Citrus, Fresca Black Cherry, Diet Citrus Drop (Kroger), Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Pepsi One, Pepsi Max, Diet Rite (multiple flavors).

So-so: Any caffeine-free variety of diet cola, any Kroger (Big K) or Safeway (Vons) flavor. Cherry versions of Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke.

Yuck: Vanilla anything. Cherry/vanilla anything. Energy drinks, particularly RockStar (for its owner, Michael Weiner Savage). Store versions of Dr. Pepper.

What Exactly is "Honey Sauce"?

Being a heavy soda pop drinker, I learned long ago (about the time I started putting on weight), that soda is loaded with calories due to sugar, so I switched to diet only. Well, I should say, I thought it was sugar. These days, sodas are far more likely to be sweetened by high-fructose corn syrup.

High-fructose corn syrup isn't just in soda, though, it is seemingly in almost everything. Anything that is mass-produced, and tastes sweet (and even some things that don't) seem to now be sweetened with it.

But there are some things you'd never dream contain the stuff. Honey, for instance. Today, I thought it might be nice to add something different to my breakfast bagel at work. So, I went through the condiment bag and dug out some honey from KFC. Or so I thought.

I noticed that the packet (adorned with the Kentucky Fried Chicken patriarch's picture) read, "Colonel's Honey Sauce." Hmm. Honey sauce. What the hell is honey sauce? So I flipped the packet over, and read the ingredients:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Sugar
• Honey
• Corn Syrup
• Natural Flavor
• Caramel Color

Two kinds of corn syrup and sugar? Natural flavor from what? Color from what? Oh, and honey. Nice that they put that in somewhere. Flipping the packet over, I found the kicker:

• 11% Real Honey.

Well thank goodness for that.

I wasn't the only one to ponder this topic, of course. From the internets:

[Excerpt]

Sweetened Honey

My roommate and I just went to KFC for lunch, and I noticed something strange. The honey packets that came with the biscuits said "Honey Sauce" rather than just "Honey. . ."

Read more at: Just Throwing it Out There

Bad For You: Sugarless Gum and Bowel Problems?

Image from View Images

Oh, good grief. Don't eat sugar, it rots your teeth. High fructose corn syrup makes us obese. Nutrasweet supposedly rots your brain. And who knows what Splenda can do. I suppose we're just supposed to have nothing sweet at all, though, WAIT! Salt's bad too! And meat. And dairy. And eggs. Pretty soon they'll be scaring us into taking an IV solution. . .

[Excerpt]

Too much sugar-free gum linked to bowel problems

Consuming too much sorbitol, a sweetener widely used in "sugar-free" chewing gum and sweets, can cause serious bowel problems, German doctors said on Friday.

The warning follows the cases of two patients who suffered chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and severe weight loss after ingesting large amounts of sorbitol. . .

Read more at: Reuters