The Battle Against HFCS, Part 2

I'll start with a summary of the information presented in my previous entry. Then I'll move on to my thoughts and frustrations.

• High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods, such as soda, baked goods and condiments, that is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to to fructose.
• The process was discovered in 1957 and the use of HFCS in many foods began in the late 1970's.
• There seems to be a link between the use of HFCS and the increase in obesity of Americans. In addition, it is thought to increase the chances of diabetes and heart disease. So far, very few studies have been able to determine if there is a causal relationship between HFCS and these health problems, if it is due to an increase in sugar consumption in general or if it's mere 'coincidence.'

After initially reading about the possible link between HFCS and obesity a few months ago, I looked at a few labels and discovered that the bread we were buying had HFCS as the 3rd or 4th ingredient. I decided that finding bread without HFCS would be an easy first step for eliminating it from my diet. We found a bread that we liked and were even lucky enough to find it at the Old Home bread store in town, where it's significantly cheaper. So that's where we were for a few months.

Then I looked at a few more labels. At that point, I really felt like I understood the phrase, "Ignorance is bliss." I didn't mind the jelly we were using, until I saw that the very first ingredient was HFCS, and then I had the get rid of it immediately. Aaron decided to stop drinking soda (Great!!) but can't stand drinking water all the time like I do, so we had gotten some frozen lemonade that he could make up on a whim. Then we look at the ingredient list and #1 is HFCS. At this point, I wasn't too surprised by what I was finding it in, I was more surprised to find it as the main ingredient and a little frustrated by trying to find (more expensive) alternatives.

The absolute disgust came in when I realized it was in our ketchup, a can of kidney beans and even my Reduced Fat Wheat Thins. At this point I felt a little lost. I mean, we don't really consume that much ketcup, so did it really matter?? And yeah, there's HFCS in the Wheat Thins, but it's the 7th ingredient, so how much damage could it really do??

At this point, I'm still not entirely sure what we'll do. We'll most likely try to find a brand of ketchup, kidney beans, etc... that doesn't have HFCS, but we'll probably use the rest of what we have first. I'm cheap by nature, and it just seems wasteful to throw it all out. Wheat thins, on the other hand, have thrown me for a loop. About 3 afternoons a week, I have a wedge of Light Laughing Cow cheese and 12 Reduced Fat Wheat Thins as an afternoon snack. It's my alternative to buying a bag of chips from the vending machine, because it's low calorie, the Wheat Thins are made with whole grain, and they don't have any PHO - another ingredient we're trying to avoid. So the thing I wonder about is, "How large of an effect will a small amount have?" Is HFCS similar to PHO - it's suggested that you can have a little PHO, about 2g a day, without a negative effect.

I probably won't have an answer until more research is done. I'm glad I was a Psych major who took several reserch methodology classes, so that I can wade through the research and make an attempt at deciphering between fact-based information and propaganda!! But to be completely honest, until I get a better answer, I'll probably keep eating my Wheat Thins and Laughing Cow Cheese...