Why Hate on the Corn Syrup?

at 1:25 pm on January 29, 2009 under Jan: Vegan/Refined Sugar/Corn Syrup Free | Be the First to Comment

Apartment Therapy articulates some of the good reasons to avoid corn syrup here.

Here are some quick capsule reasons that motivate me:

(1) It is pervasive: Notice how many ingredients lists at your supermarket have high fructose corn syrup. The dependence on corn as a sweetener has been heavily the result of market forces and government subsidies. Farmland used for corn could be used for so many other crops that are nutritionally important, and depletes soil resources. It also makes our farm system vulnerable to massive devastation. In 1996 70 million US acres were used to grow only a few varieties of corn. It would only take one infestation, one disease to spread creating a domino effect of crop depletion that would be difficult to recover from.

(2) It it nutritionally useless: As with everything, moderation is key. Some sweetener, some corn syrup is okay for the diet. But a diet that exposes us to high amounts of highly processed high fructose corn syrup every day which has been connected to obesity, diabetes, and other nutritional problems.

(3) It’s just plain gross: Okay, not a particularly great reason. But visceral. Check out the scene in King Corn where they showed how corn syrup was made by processing corn with hydrochloric acid (which contains mercury and emits toxic fumes!) Nasty.

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