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trystinnWould 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 03:29 pm (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 11:41 pm (UTC)Costco carries Mexican Coke. If you have a membership you can buy it by the case.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 11:44 pm (UTC)