Yesterday, I saw this commercial on TV and I about DIED. People tend to believe most things they see on the old tube and it scares the patooey out of me that this new ad campaign is telling Big Gulp-guzzling Americans that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is basically the same as sugar and thus is not bad for you. Holy sugar-saturated fruit snacks Batman! Not only is this 30 second monstrosity an example of astonishingly bad acting, but it is also completely WRONG!! HFCS is in no way shape or form the same as sugar. Okay, sorry I guess they do have something in common -- they are both sweet. Thank goodness we have rules against false advertising...
So, I'm not a food scientist, but stay with me here: fructose (the sugar found in HFCS) doesn't stimulate insulin secretion. Insulin is the handy dohicky that helps us digest/absorb sugar. Thus when insulin fails, diabetes ensues. Icky. Still with me? HFCS also causes problems with our liver (where all that fructose gets broken down) leading to elevated triglycerides (the bad cholesterol) which can later lead to obesity and heart disease and death. Double ick.
Now I may be a little more sensitive to this issue than some due to my indoctrination as a small child that anything refined, sweet or basically good tasting is bad for you. But HFCS is like Big Brother -- it's everywhere. In our cereals, juice, candy, crackers, cokes, you name it, it's got HFCS. Why you ask? Because it is cheap (due to corn subsidies) and it has a long shelf life. Chalk up one more point for consumerism and Big Brother.
Now I enjoy a Cherry Coke as much as the next gal, but I imbibe knowing full well that I am not drinking something that is magically doing my body good. I know that this delicious concoction is chock full of chemically engineered sugars that my body will go into overdrive trying to digest. But I try to block that out because I'm trying to make up for all those cokes I didn't get to drink as a kid and by golly it tastes good, right?! Right??
1 month ago