Intake

[trystinn]

Would you give your kid 5.5 tablespoons of HFCS with lunch? You probably do already and don't know it. 5.5 tablespoons is the amount of HFCS in a 20 oz bottle of soda. The HFCS lobby wants you to know that calorie-wise, HFCS is the same as sugar - so that's 5.5 tablespoons of sugar in each of their sodas. And you wouldn't give your kid 5.5 tablespoons of sugar at each meal, would you?

In one year, from soda alone:
your age 6-11 child drinks 42 gallons of HFCS.
your teenager drinks 171 gallons of HFCS.

That's a hell of a lot of HFCS. Trouble is, it's not only in soda. It's in nearly everything you feed your child. And yourself. Cereals, some ketchup, canned fruits & vegetables, commercial breads, dairy products, salad dressings, children's yogurt and most prepared foods.
And if you think to yourself "but my kid doesn't drink soda, he's safe", you're wrong. Likely, your child drinks synthetic juice, sports or energy drinks. Synthetic juices, btw, may only contain 10% real juice. The rest is HFCS and other chemicals.

Let's say you're an adult who drinks 37 gallons of non-diet soda a year - that's 60,000 calories, possibly 500 - 800 calories daily. And that is half the recommended calories a day.

Now, remember that HFCS impedes the body's ability to signal the brain that you're satiated. Which is why once you start eating and drinking HFCS, you keep doing it. Scary, eh?

Here's another scary number - 28.5 micrograms a day. That's the amount of mercury you, an adult, are ingesting along with that HFCS. If you are nursing, some of that mercury is going to end up in your breast milk. With 1 in 12 women having an unsafe level of mercury, we can't blame it all on the fish anymore.

And we don't know what that's going to do to you. Or your baby. Or your child.

Since it's widespread use in 1970, HFCS has overtaken sugar in nearly every product on the shelves. And since 1970, fast food consumption by children is up 500%. And current obesity rates suggest that in 40 years somewhere between 90 - 100% of all Americans will be clinically obese.

Comments

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

You mean, you mean, you mean we're not supposed to believe the commercials made by the HFCS consortium?

I'm stunned. Really.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

I know, me, too. If it weren't for my brand new aluminum foil hat, I would still be in the dark.

[nocturnalia.livejournal.com]

huh. As someone who is blissfully unaware of what happens on the TV, the fact (is it a fact? or sarcasm...I haven't had coffeeyet...) that there IS an HFCS consortium doing commercials?


very, very scary.

I'm a chronic label reader for a reason!

[herbmcsidhe.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is such a consortium.

[nocturnalia.livejournal.com]

ye gods. Scary.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Yup.

I saw one last summer and my head exploded.

[nocturnalia.livejournal.com]

that puts me in mind of the old DDT is SAFE!! TV spots from the, what, 50's?

*shudder*

[herbmcsidhe.livejournal.com]

And there is little escape from it - HCFS is found in products you would not consider, from yoghurt to bread. I expect to find it next in bacon or ham.

Just wait -- Honey, now improved with HFCS!

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

It's one of the reasons I tend to buy kosher meat and bake my own bread. I also only buy locally produced honey, I don't want honey from China!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

If you have the opportunity for honey from Greece from a trusted source, however, go for it.

I got some on Mykonos last summer and OMG NOM NOM NOM.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'll give it a shot!

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

If anything will put a stake through the heart of HFCS, it's this:

Study Finds HFCS contains mercury

I am an avid label reader. I like clean foods. And I like my brain to function normally, too.

[leighhyphenanne.livejournal.com]

I hate those fucking commercials more than anything. "But its fine in moderation!" well, it's in everything, so how does one moderate consumption?

I have always been a coke-drinker, so switching was hard. I'm allergic to aspartame, so diet was out until splenda came along. (Which is made from chlorine, so probably worse, but I don't react to it)

I've discovered cocacola imported from Mexico has real sugar. No HFCS! Bummer: it's more expensive for a smaller bottle... but smaller isn't worse, I guess. American consumption and all.

It tastes better (maybe this is because I lived in mexico and love it nostalgicly) it is lighter and doesn't burn as you drink it.

I'm tired of being poisoned because I need to eat. Thanks, america!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

We've been buying Mexican Coke for a couple of years now. It definitely tastes better. Corn syrup-sweetened Coke is nasty. (I've also had Coke in Thailand, where they use palm sugar, and it's much tastier.)

Costco carries Mexican Coke. If you have a membership you can buy it by the case.

[leighhyphenanne.livejournal.com]

OH no way!!! I have a membership! I'm going to get some soon!!

[sanacrow.livejournal.com]

Robin's allergic to any form of corn product, and HFCS spikes my blood sugars for days after so much as a single serving of something loaded, so we've gotten *really* good at reading labels. Unfortunately (or not, considering the potential long-term effects) I react to most artificial sweeteners and some preservatives, so we've also gotten really good at cooking from raw and finding imported staples. It helps that a really good Asian grocery just opened around the corner, and we have UK and NZ friends who arrange care packages of goodies. And I got a chest freezer for Yule, so stocking up in-season is now going to make life a lot easier...