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Consumerman.com
After 20 months of review, the Food and Drug Administration has denied a petition from the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) to use the term “corn sugar” as another name for high-fructose corn syrup.
Corn refiners have argued that people are confused by the term high-fructose corn syrup because they believe it has more calories, fructose and sweetness than sugar. The industry’s petition to the FDA said corn sugar more accurately describes their product because it has the same ratio of fructose and glucose as sugar and is metabolized by the body in the same way.
The agency said it did not find “sufficient grounds” to authorize the name change. In a letter to the president of the Corn Refiners Association, FDA’s Michael Landa says “sugar is a solid, dried, and crystallized food” while syrup is a liquid food. In other words, corn syrup is not solid, so it can’t be called sugar.
Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, released a statement saying the FDA denied the petition on narrow, technical grounds.
“They did not address or question the overwhelming scientific evidence that high fructose corn syrup is a form of sugar and is nutritionally the same as other sugars,” she writes. “The fact remains – which FDA did not challenge – that the vast majority of American consumers are confused about HFCS.”
In 2008, the corn refiners launched a multi-million dollar advertising and marketing campaign designed to convince consumers that sugar and HFCS are identical. The message was “sugar is sugar” and the ads encouraged people to learn more at CornSugar.com and SweetSurprise.com.
Related story: Consumer groups sour on 'corn sugar' change
The FDA was not happy with this and asked the refiners to modify statements that used the term corn sugar.
U.S. sugar farmers and refiners responded by filing a lawsuit which is still pending. Dan Callister, an attorney for the Sugar Association, calls the FDA’s ruling a victory for American consumers.
“It reaffirms what most consumer advocates, health experts and policy officials have been saying all along: only sugar is sugar,” he said in a statement. “The next step is for a federal court to end CRA’s misleading propaganda campaign."
Is the wide-spread use of high-fructose corn syrup in all sorts of processed foods to blame for America’s obesity epidemic? Scientists disagree on that.
A 2008 report by the American Medical Association concludes that it is "unlikely" that high-fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.
But a 2011 study cited by the sugar industry from the journal Metabolism concludes that fructose corn syrup leads to "significantly different acute metabolic effects" than plain sugar.
Related stories:
High fructorse corn syrup, by any other name
Corn sugar is false advertising, FDA warns
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HFCS is processed corn starch. Starch is a polymer of glucose (100% glucose). The starch is crushed, dissolved and treated with a couple digestive enzymes to form a solution of glucose. The glucose is then treated with an enzyme to convert it to 42% fructose and 50-52% glucose plus a little of a few other monosaccharides (HFCS 42). The solution is then purified to create a 90% fructose solution (HFCS 90) which is used to enrich HFCS 42 to 55% fructose (HFCS 55). This is used to sweeten soft drinks.
Cane sugar is crystallized solid sucrose, a disaccharide. It hasn't been processed like HFCS has been. Research shows that your body absorbs and processes these two sugars differently.
DanP... there are many other types of sugars, well beyond glucose and fructose that are in food. And, just to let you know, ALL food are comprised of chemicals.
I think the feds need to clarify the facts here. If so many Americans are still confused about the properties of this ingredient, then why do the feds not take a stance on the truth, rather than laboriously hide behind 'what it is not' rather than what it actually is? It does not cause people to become fat. PEOPLE cause people to become fat, because they have no self control and continue to EAT more calories then they BURN by sitting on their fat butts all day, rather than exercising appropriately. The fed has so many regulatory agencies that do the same exact thing -- the FCC, FAA, EPA, DEA, TSA and the POTUS -- that continue to ignore facts in favor of regulating something they clearly do NOT understand. Vote NO for president -- or write in my name.
Apparently, the FDA would have flunked Chemistry. Sucrose, fructose and maltose are all sugars--no matter if they are in solid or liquid form.
They need to study more "Shrimp on a treadmill". Put our tax dollars to good use for a change.
Now this IS news - there's a "Sugar Association"?
And for the record, the money spent on all those ads about "sugar is sugar" hasn't altered my consumer choices in the least.
HFCS and sugar don't make people obese, people make people obese.
clean lathers and jay; There are many types of sugars and depending on the physical form they are in, your body digests them all differently. This can lead to different effects on your health.
mathuin: The food industry designs foods to be addictive so you will consume and buy more. They use psychology to formulate their ads so you will buy more. Not really a level playing field. (see: Center for Science in the Public Interest's "Nutrition Action Healthletter", April and May issues, 2012)
Obesity and weight gain increase your risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Whose tax dollars pay the bulk of the cost for this? Soda is liquid candy made extra sweet with HFCS. They should tax it and use the proceeds to help pay the healthcare costs of the obesity epidemic.
Dave the doubter: If there were no FDA, CDC, NIH, NSF, OSHA, etc. paid for by tax dollars, you might not be alive.
crap is crap, whatever name you wish to give it. It fools only the fools. You should not buy anything with corn syrup and neither should you eat items that have sugar second or third on their list of content. It could be brown sugar, granulated or in liquid form; it matters little. It is all bad for you ! Makes you fat and possibly diabetic. It rots your body while you are still in it. Baaaaa.
Sugar, maple syrup, beet sugar, etc. have bound molecules, as they occur in nature. Only, high fructose corn syrup has unbound, denatured molecules. The manufacturing process intended to change natural glucose to fructose ends with broken molecules (in nature they are paired) and leaves a free radical (extra molecule) called reactive carbonyl. That is probably part of the problem.
Princeton University did a study with rats with sucrose and HFCS (very carefully controlled amounts and calories). After six months, the HFCS rats were visibly fatter around the middle, weighed more than 45 % more, and high levels of cirulating triglycerides in the blood. Study lasted more than six months.
In conclusion, yes, sugar and hfcs are very similar in sweetness and calories. However, the problem is sugar and HFCS, although they have the same calories, are treated very differently in the metabolism of humans and rats. The bad culprit is either the free radicals, reactive carbonyls, or the phony fructose portion of HFCS, or a synergistic combination of both.
The corn refiners association is, of course, trying every trick in the book focused on just the sweetness and calories. They do not want to talk about the chemistry or the Princeton study or the study done with humans given Dr. Pepper with HFCS and Dr. Pepper without. It is all money to them, of course. HFCS is not good for people, especially those with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue.
The Corn Refiners Association wants the public and the FDA to focus on the calories and sweetness of both sugar and HFCS. They are nearly the same. Look up Princeton 2010 rat study with sucrose and HFCS. The rats, after 6 months, weighted more than 45% more, were visibly fatter around the middle, and had higher circulating triglyceride levels.
The harmful difference has to do with the manufacturing process in which natural glucose is turned into a phony fructose. When the paired molecules are broken (denatured) a loose molecule is left over, free radical. The free radical, called Reactive Carbonyl, when out of balance in the metabolism has the potential to do damage to human cells. I know from research and my own experience that HFCS is the majoritive cause of all and any fibromyalgia bouts I have ever endured. 30 yrs of fatigue, all over pain, stiffness and misery before I finally figured it out. I read all ingredient labels. And manufacturers can revert or begin to add it in again -- for example, Mirale Whip, ice cream treats by Lucerne.
HFCS is not bad because of calories or sweetness. It is bad because it has phony fructose in it and reactive carbonyls. The Corn Refiners Association is working very hard to keep the public just focused on calories and sweetness. If you know anyone with fibromyalgia, suggest that they seriously omit all high fructose corn syrup from all beverages and foods for three weeks. I think they will be amazed that they can recover so quickly. Janice