A Killer On The Cob
©Cloudeight Internet
Read the full article "A Killer On The Cob" here.

Additional Reading

What's Worse Than Sugar?
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourhealth/a2004-04-22-sugar.html

International Congress on Obesity August 29 2002
Finger points to corn syrup in obesity epidemic
http://www.iotf.org/media/syrup.htm

Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity
 -- Bray et al. 79 (2) 537 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537

Consumption of soft drinks and high-fructose corn syrup linked to obesity and diabetes
http://www.newstarget.com/003002.html

Corn syrup blamed for rise in diabetes - Diabetes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4808249/

Dangers Of Sweeter Products - CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/24/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main608536.shtml

Fructose is No Answer For a Sweetener
http://www.mercola.com/2002/jan/5/fructose.htm

High Fructose Corn Syrup - Nutrition Research - Diabetes Health magazine
http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read,2004,4274.html

High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Diabetes
http://www.rense.com/general69/fruc.htm

High Fructose Corn Syrup Danger of Current Era
http://www.metnews.com/articles/reminiscing112603.htm

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Sugar on Crack
http://www.supermarketguru.com/page.cfm/28021

Sugar coated - We're drowning in high fructose corn syrup.
Do the risks go beyond our waistline?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL

The Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Dangers-of-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup&id=28535

The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html

Sweet but Not So Innocent (washingtonpost.com)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8003-2003Mar10?language=printer

High fructose corn syrup may leave you hungry
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/news/hfcs.htm

High Fructose Corn Syrup
http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk/article/3059/high-fructose-corn-syrup.html

Souring On Sweeteners (Forbes Magazine)
http://www.forbes.com/2003/08/06/cz_sl_0806obesity_print.html

Cut Out Immediately This Unnatural Engineered and Manufactured Food Introduced In 1970
http://www.diabetescure101.com/fructose.htm

Studies point to high fructose corn syrup as a culprit in obesity
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12423&category=eat_right&num=0

The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup
http://health.benabraham.com/html/evils_of_high_fructose_corn_sy.html

And if you think switching to diet foods will help read the following.

Aspartame -More Dangerous Than High Fructose Corn Syrup - Nutrition
http://www.onlinebuffalo.com/nutrition/24937.php

Dangers of Aspartame Poisoning!

Aspartame- What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

Read About Splenda®

The Secret Dangers of Splenda (Sucralose), an Artificial Sweetener

There's a great deal more reading available about the dangers of HFCS, Aspartame, and Sucralose (Splenda) available on the Web. We encourage you to do more research and learn the truth about what's happening to our food in the United States.

Back to HFCS....

As far as HFCS goes - we personally wrote to Coca-Cola, Smuckers, and Heinz. Since Smuckers claims their Jellies, Jams and Preserves contain "all natural ingredients" and HFCS is certainly not a natural ingredient (although they'll argue it's made from corn and corn is natural) and this is reply they sent.

Thank you for your recent message regarding our Company, our products and services. Your comments are important to us and your message will receive a personal reply from the next available representative. We make every effort to investigate and respond to every inquiry within two businessdays (sic). However, some questions take a little longer if the issue is complex. In addition, during some of the holiday seasons, our responsetime (sic) may be somewhat slower than normal and we apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

If your question or comment is in regard to Smucker's Catalog, Smucker's Online Store or the Catalog products, you may call the Catalog CustomerService (sic) Department. The toll-free number for Catalog related questions is 1-800-742-6729. The hours that these representatives are available are 9 a.m. until 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If your question or comment is regarding a Smucker product or about our Company in general, you may call our Consumer Relations Department. The toll-free number for our Consumer Relations Department is 1-888-550-9555. The hours that these representatives are available are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Best regards,

The J. M. Smucker Company

http://www.smuckers.com

Smuckers called me the next day and told me that they're going to be coming out with a line of organic jams and jellies this summer made with pure cane sugar. They also reminded me they make a low-sugar line of jams and jellies which do not contain high fructose corn syrup. They also told me to look for their "All Fruit" line of jams and jellies which are sweetened with fruit juice.

This makes me wonder why they don't use sugar in their regular jams and jellies. If it's better (and it obviously is or they wouldn't be using "pure cane sugar" in the upcoming line of organics) why not use it in all their products. Well, it seems to me the answer is money. The price of HFCS is artificially low -paid for by you and I - the taxpayers of the USA. And the price of sugar is kept artificially high with tariffs. I wonder, though, what the actual cost is to the taxpayers of the United States given the health issues caused by HFCS. To see how the government keeps the cost of sugar high and HFCS low read this article.

 

Heinz Wrote

Because we understand that customers like you are the cornerstone of our company's success, we're very interested in hearing your comments and questions. We will try our best to address them in a timely fashion; however, due to the large amount of correspondence we receive, we ask that you be patient while awaiting a response.

We'd like to thank you in advance for your patience, and look forward to bringing wholesome and delicious food to your table for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Your Friends at H.J. Heinz Company

And the next day they wrote a semi-personal letter -

Thank you for your recent email regarding Heinz Ketchup. Consumer feedback
is very important to us, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Recent media reports have called attention to High Fructose Corn Syrup and
its role in the U.S. diet.  Many of these articles attempt to link
consumption of high-fructose corn syrup to obesity.

It is important to recognize that excess calories from any source can
contribute to increased weight in the absence of exercise.   It is incorrect
to focus on any specific food or ingredient in attempting to address
obesity.  All foods can fit into a healthful, balanced diet.

The Food & Drug Administration's Obesity Working Group recently released a
report whose primary recommendation was 'calorie count.'  This
recommendation reflects sound science and a wealth of research.  This report
suggests that instead of focusing on any one food ingredient, the most
important message is that, to manage weight, you must balance calories
consumed against energy expended.  To lose weight, calorie expenditure must
be greater than calories consumed.

Like other food manufacturers, Heinz provides an assortment of food choices
for consumers interested in lower calorie alternatives and special diets.
In our frozen food line, we offer Smart Ones Truth About Carb Entrees, as
well as Smart Ones entrees, desserts and snacks to fulfill those dietary
needs.   In our condiment line, we offer Heinz One-Carb Ketchup (sweetened
with Splenda), as well as No Salt Ketchup and Organic Ketchup (sweetened
with organic cane sugar).

Heinz Consumer Resource Center

Heinzconsumeraffairs@us.hjheinz.com

You will notice the only issue they address is the obesity issue. They don't discuss the issues of type2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or other health problems caused by HFCS.

Coca-Cola never responded to this article or to my inquiry.

If you have a minute contact Coca-Cola, Smuckers, and Heinz and tell them what you think of HFCS in their products. We might not change the world but we can try to make it healthier. In the meantime, it is important that you read food labels and try, as much as possible, to remove HFCS from your diet.

I realize that the farmers who grow corn will be affected if the use of HFCS dropped significantly. However, there's a better use for corn product and one that will keep the farmers who now grow corn busy growing corn. It's called E-85 fuel. We have the technology right now to burn fuel in our cars and trucks which is 85% ethanol alcohol made from corn. This is not only good for our health but it releases us from being dependent upon other countries for our fuel supply. If America switch to E-85 fuel, we could no longer be held hostage by oil cartel in the Middle East. It would be good for our economy, our health and our political situation.  Much better to use corn to make E-85 fuel than to use corn to produce HFCS, which is ruining our health and the health of our children.

Read the full article "A Killer On The Cob" here.

Close This Window