I'm interested in the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) debate, which has been in the news again. I believe it probably is a factor in the "epidemic" of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

I thought the Corn Refiners Association's ads this fall (here & here  were a touch defensive. Can you say "the lady doth protest too much"?

What I missed until now was the hilarious YouTube backlash at these ads. Watch this, or this or search for HFCS and peruse dozens of videos.

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You may have heard in the past couple months that the FDA ruled that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and anything that contains it could no longer be labeled "natural".  Surprise, surprise, the Corn Refiners Association has convinced them to change their minds this week.

It turns out that the "synthetic fixing agent for the enzyme used in the process does not come into contact with the high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate".  So all the ingredients it takes to make HFCS are natural, except the major one that doesn't end up in the product, so it's "natural".  Even though you or I could never cook it up in our kitchens.

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An interesting study came out recently. You can read about it here on dLife. In a nutshell, it says that sodas containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have high levels of a reactive compound that has been shown by others to have the potential to cause damage that may lead to diabetes. A very interesting aside is that one of the active compounds in green tea, EGCG, reduces those compounds substantially.

This really piqued my interest because I began to question HFCS a year or more ago due to some reading I'd done. Much like trans-fats, this stuff looks ok because it's based on real foods. It sounds innocuous - after all fructose is the sugar in fruit, right? And corn/maize is the original all-American food. BUT, and it's a big but, it is chemically altered. It's not like you can buy a bushel of corn on the cob and cook some HFCS up in your kitchen. (READ MORE)