What's In a Name?

In a post I published earlier this month, I publicly declared my hatred towards high fructose corn syrup and explained how this malicious ingredient ultimately ended my long-term friendship with Special K cereals. 

I'm happy and proud to see that more and more consumers are acknowledging the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and requesting their foods to be made without the ingredient. Consumption of corn-derived sweeteners plummeted by 20% over the past decade. Big name food companies, like Starbucks and Kraft, are ceasing the use of high fructose corn syrup in their food productions already; more companies are starting to follow the lead.

But just as consumers are becoming more sweetener-conscious, the food industry fights back. 

This past week, the Corn Refiners Association filed a petition with the FDA to officially change the name "high fructose corn syrup" to "corn sugar". 

Sure, "corn syrup" may sound healthier, but it is still glucose converted into fructose through enzymatic processing! It is still unnatural! It is still bad for you! 

If approved, the name change would only mislead and confuse consumers. 

The Corn Refiners Association wants to take advantage of the fact that shoppers (who actually take the time to read the labels) often judge the healthiness of an ingredient or product by the sound of its name. Although a good strategy, it doesn't work 100% of the time. Check out some ingredients that sound healthy, but are not, and some ingredients that sound scary, but are harmless.

Dangerous Ingredients that Sound Healthy:

• fruit juice concentrate - sugar's "healthier" alias
• soybean oil - high in omega-6 fats, the bad kind of fat
• palm oil - 1/2 saturated fat
• wheat flour - unless it is whole wheat flour, it is just a synonym for white or all purpose flour

Harmless Ingredients that Sound Scary:

• inulin - natural, soluble fiber
• ascorbic acid - another name for Vitamin C
• xanthan gum - a thickener fermented from glucose
• maltodextrin - natural form of starch

Don't let the ingredient names mislead you.

High fructose corn syrup - you can run, you can hide, but you can't change the fact that you are still corn-derived and chemically created. 

Nice try.