Saturday, June 02, 2012

Language and Health

‘Corn Sugar’ No More: HFCS Name to Stay

6:55AM PDT on Jun 2, 2012
There are many ways that a product can contain any kind of sweetner but the whole truth is your body neither knows or cares whether a sweetner is liquid, powder or granulated. The problem is not what the sweetner is. It is how much of it you put into your body. Lables are not going to change that. It is using less that will change the way people the way people treat their own bodies. If people can't change it themselves, neither will a name. Less is more!!! As in a sauge - use one instead of two or a half instead of a whole. The only way obesity will end is when everyone who cares about theie bodies enough, changes the amounts they put into theor body. It isn't up to government policy, it is up to each family cook to change the way their own family treats the food they eat.
Comment on care2.com from Janet W. (typos and all)

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/corn-sugar-no-more-high-fructose-corn-syrup-name-to-stay.html#ixzz1we33YFn6

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT -- The FDA will not allow 'high fructose corn syrup' to rename itself as 'corn sugar.'   'Sugar,' by definition, must be granular.  So, a technicality, but the fact is, the Food and Drug Administration did not cave in to the sugar manufacturers.

Now, how about labeling for dairy hormones?  How about the simple truth on a label for genetically modified plants and animals?  Let consumers make informed decisions, through information only available on labels.  (Consult those little produce stickers.  But, have you ever found the one that means 'GMO'?)

ABOUT THE COMMENT I copied above...  What Janet W. has said makes so many good points!  Yes, sugar is sugar.  The qualifications:  there is evidence that HFCS is particularly agressive when consumed.  A carb is a carb, but whole foods treat the body more gently than refined, and bring with them the benefits of the nutrients they carry.  Sugars have a range on the glycemic index and differ on the -ose composition, and (to a far lesser degree  than grains) can bring along some nutrient buffers to their pure hit.  Choose your sweeteners with attention.

Then, the issues of quantity... Valuable information you can learn from labeling is the breakdown of carbohydrates on the nutrition label.  If you are about to buy a manufactured product, compare items for the amount of sugar.  Check portion size too -- they may not be computed on the same amounts, or the portion size may be unrealistic. 

Following a recipe?  Here it's all in front of you, no secrets!  I just saw a cake recipe -- 2 9" layers, 2 cups maple syrup in the layers, 1/2 cup in the frosting (made with 1 pound of cream cheese), 1/4 cup in the 'healthy' fruit filling!  And the author of the recipe had reduced the sugar when she converted to maple syrup.  Common sense, anyone?

Janet says, "...when everyone cares about their bodies..."  Such a paradox in this country with its bountiful food supply, food costs still at a historically low level, mostly good information about nutrition easily accessed!  We're also a culture of rampant plastic surgery and Botox, anorexia and bulimia, skinny models and weight loss fads.  Too many people care about their bodies in strange and sometimes destructive ways, when the slow simple answers should be on our plates.

FOOTNOTE ABOUT SODIUM  I recently bought a package of English wholemeal biscuits.  I had a choice of 2 brands, with similar ingredients.  Checking the nutrition information panel, I found one had 4 times more sodium than the other.  Without that information, I would have ignorantly bought the other brand and ignorantly enjoyed it.  Another very sneaky excess in packaged food.