Sunday, September 07, 2008

Corn Refiners Association HFCS Propaganda

As the debate rages over the health implications of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the Corn Refiners Associations has produced some television ads to tell us that HFCS is completely safe and natural. (They also have a website promoting HFCS.) Many people and some scientists disagree (see the Bloomberg news stories at the end of this post).

Awhile back we posted a list of fast food items with HFCS and Kate at Accidental Hedonist has a list of other products with HFCS and she has numerous articles about HFCS.

UPDATE: CBS News has a great article today (10/1/08) on how funding for many of the High Fructose Corn Syrup studies came from companies with a financial stake in the outcome.

Here are two of the ads from the Corn Refiners Association:
(Did these people used to work for the Tobacco Industry?)






Here are 2 news stories from Bloomberg about new research linking HFCS to diabetes and obesity:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe this propoganda is on television. These people know HFCS is horrible, but it brings more money into their pockets AND that's all that matters to them. HFCS is in just about everything in the US. I cut HFCS one week and lost 6lbs. This included fruit cups, certain yogurts, crackers, quaker rice cake minis, etc.

And I do believe the CRA is the neo-Tobacco Association.

Kathleen said...

I cannot believe that they are trying to spin this when there's increasing evidence about the problems with HFCS. Interestingly, it's not allowed in a lot of products in the EU; for instance, the coke in France has sugar, not HFCS.

Thanks for your always excellent blog!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh!!!I wish the ‘Concerned mother’ in the propaganda would have turned and said, “Oh, from corn. Isn’t that what ethanol is from? Shall I pour you a glass?” Or, “ok its all natural, like arsenic. Let’s eat.” I am sick of this label that I am an over reactive mother because I don’t feed my family poison—even in moderation. What is moderation for poison by the way?

ninjaclectic said...

The King Corn guys just did a pretty funny spoof of these ads.

Jenn said...

I think this is one of the WORST commercials on TV. It is giving only a few facts about corn syrup and making it look like there is nothing wrong with it. Are they trying to kill the population?

The biggest problem I have with the commmercials is that they always say "that it is okay in moderation." Moderation is the key word. Corn syrup is in nearly EVERYTHING. Spend a week and look at the labels in everything you eat, or browse the grocery store. You will be surprised to find that it isn't just in things like popsicles, candies, and sodas; but that it is on the ingredient list of things that you would have never expected: breads, yogurts, salad dressings... and the list goes on and on. Which in turn, makes it nearly impossible to eat in moderation.

Anonymous said...

Fools! Don't you people understand?! The rich get richer! Us peasants are only here so the millionaires can become billionaires! What is more important in the long run, our safety or wealth of the few? Seriously, how do you people sleep at night knowing you're trying to take money out of the pockets of these noble people?

Anonymous said...

Its not HFCS anymore. They're changing the name. Now its "Corn Sugar"

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/a-new-name-for-high-fructose-corn-syrup/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Nightshade is still poison even if you call it a beautiful woman (belladonna).