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Well Noted: Corn Syrup’s Sticky Situation

High-fructose corn syrup is not bad for you – not that it matters.

WellnessFoodsOnline
By David Feder, RD, editor

Happy 2008. The transition to a new year is a big time for trends. We publish our top new products release (“Why We Love These Products,” Food Processing, November; www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/289.html), we conduct and analyze our annual Manufacturing Trends Survey (“Safety First…But Looking Green,” Food Processing, January) and we publish the big Wellness Foods magazine annual All-Trends issue (“Trends 2008,” Wellness Foods, December; www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/310.html). All are great sources to discover what’s “in” in the way of trends.

So how about what’s “out?” From an ingredient standpoint, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is one ingredient that’s sinking in popularity. I believe we passed the “tipping point” last year, culminating two decades of a simmering rumble against the sweetener. A 2007 International Food Information Council study found 60 percent of American consumers claimed they were trying to consume less high-fructose corn syrup.

The frustrating aspect of this is, it doesn't matter that, as a substitute for table sugar/cane sugar, science doesn't support any need to fear corn syrup. What does matter is consumers are swallowing the pseudoscience of irresponsible nutrition reporting and are convinced HFCS is unhealthy and leads to a host of diseases, especially obesity and diabetes.

As we’ve reported in our pages before (see, “HFCS: Highly fattening or crappy science?” www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/177.html; “Nutrition Beyond the Trends: The Devil and High-Fructose Syrup,” www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2006/145.html and others), HFCS is chemically pretty much the same thing as table sugar. Where sucrose is a 50-50 compound of glucose and fructose, HFCS runs between 42 and 55 percent fructose to glucose. The term “high-fructose” is in relation to pure corn syrup made from hydrolyzed starch, yielding all glucose.

In the 1970s an isomerization step was introduced into the processing which converts some of the glucose into fructose. Since the amount of fructose can fall on either side of the 50-50 balance, targeting HFCS vs. sucrose or fructose doesn’t make sense. Besides, the body breaks down table sugar and HFCS into single sugar molecules anyway.

There was some good news in 2007 for corn, though. Ethanol. Although, toward the end of the year, pundits began calling the ethanol rush a bust, and there still is a lot of controversy, the negative feedback could be premature. Mandates are still in place for greater use of biofuels, and the current plateau in petroleum prices will last only as long as Middle East stability.

At this writing, corn-based ethanol is being blamed for rising food prices. But it isn’t just fuel impacting the anticipated conversion of corn into gold. Demand is ratcheting up for feed grain as the populations of India and China shift from being predominantly vegetarian populations to ardent carnivores. It takes about four pounds of grain to yield one pound of meat.

A number of other plant products are poised to take the pressure off corn for ethanol, and we can wait to see whether HFCS will weather the bad publicity (it’s probably too optimistic to believe pundits will start reporting on such things responsibly and with science-based information) or if the demand for corn for fuel somehow compensates any decrease of its use for HFCS. Who knows? When the dust settles, we might just get our cake and eat it too: Cheap fuel, plenty of bioplastics, perfectly good sweeteners and less panic.

Salt Redemption?

Hopefully, the coming year will see sodium   as equally and unfairly demonized as high-fructose corn syrup – move closer to an end of its demonization by similarly irresponsible and unscientific media assaults. Use of salt remains fairly steady, although not necessarily due to awareness that the research of the past 40 years doesn’t support a reduction in sodium for healthy individuals. Whereas the combination of the shrill and desperate evident in the anti-salt coalition’s public histrionics is likely off-putting to consumers, with the reverse effect intended, there’s the inescapable fact that unsalted food does not taste good.

More Voices

Well Noted: Corn Syrup’s Sticky Situation
01/14/2008
High-fructose corn syrup is not bad for you – not that it matters.

The Trend's the thing
12/10/2007
Editor David Feder makes ingredient trend predictions for 2008.

Well Noted: Added Ingredients
11/06/2007
The American Dietetic Assn.’s annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) may be beginning to exhibit symptoms of split-personality disorder.

Well Noted: Because Nutrition Research Was Always This Way
10/04/2007
In previous columns I’ve written about the persistence of certain health and nutrition myths, especially the salt and sodium one, that healthy adults are at risk of developing high blood pressure based on salt intake. But there are others.

Well Noted: Diluting the Organic and Health Messages
09/13/2007
Do the terms "organic" and "healthy" lose their meaning when they're applied to every food and beverage product? There’s danger in blurring lines between what is organic or healthy and what is merely marketed as such.

Well Noted: China Syndrome
08/08/2007
It will be a long time before what I’m calling “the China Syndrome” ceases to be a newsworthy issue in food processing.

Well Noted: Shalom, Y’all
07/10/2007
Wellness Foods editor David Feder, a Texas native and former resident of Israel, returns from a tour of the Holy Land’s food and ingredient manufacturers.

Fire Down Below
06/01/2007
An analysis of the Power of Five trade show and expo held last May 5-9 in Chicago, including the Organic Trade Assn.’s “All Things Organic” component.

Well Noted: Moving Up and Southern Hospitality
05/02/2007

Well Noted: Healthy Out West
04/03/2007
A report on new product and ingredient trends from the 2007 Natural Products Expo West / Supply Expo show in Anaheim, Calif.

Well Noted: Meating of the Minds
03/07/2007
The 2007 Annual Meat Conference, sponsored by the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute includes new session on kosher- and halal-certification megatrends.

Well Noted: Judging Health Food by Its Cover
02/07/2007
Making a case for more aggressive pursuit of sustainable packaging now that bioplastics have caught up to demand.

Well Noted: A Wellness New Year
01/10/2007
Editor David Feder’s shamelessly subjective ramblings on some of the good, the bad and the weird of last year’s wellness products and stories. Plus: Changes to the magazine for 2007.

Well Noted: The four Bs of nutraceuticals
12/01/2006
Those of us seeking to add wellness ingredients to our diets have a wealth of choices. Until we get to the actual products, where it seems, with few exceptions, we're restricted to beverages, bars, baked goods and breakfast foods. We need to look at other opportunities processors have to incorporate functional ingredients into the food chain.

Well Noted: This One’s a Keeper
11/01/2006
The Natural Products Expo East, held last month in Baltimore, showcased thousands of new products for health and wellness as usual. But there were also some interesting trends worth taking note of. Sustainable and Free-Trade are making aggressive inroads, cherries are back, and editor David Feder admits he was wrong about the popularity of açai.

Well Noted: Glycemic Index is Just So Wrong
10/03/2006
The American Assn. of Cereal Chemists International's needs to take a stand regarding its set of definitions for glycemic index, according to David Feder, editor of Wellness Foods.

Well Noted: Organic By Any Other Name
09/06/2006
The boom in demand for organic foods and ingredients threatens to outpace supply. Yet some companies are coming under fire for allegedly “fudging” what is truly organic. The question is, do the cows have to be happy for the milk to be organic?

Well Noted: Soy Will Kill You
08/01/2006
Soy recently got its turn under the hot lamp of media accusation for crimes committed in the name of health. Research purportedly linking soy to cancer has been splattering the pages of popular media with its tofu gore. As always, the truth is more benign – pun intended – than the columnists would have us believe.

Well Noted: Survey Says Nearly Half Don’t Count . . . Calories, That Is
07/01/2006
If a calorie is consumed in the forest and no one is there to count it, will it still show up on your waistline? We analyze the IFIC Food & Health Survey’s disturbing finding that 43 percent of consumers refuse to even think about keeping track of their caloric intake.

Well Noted: Behold the Power
06/05/2006
A visit to the "Power of Five" conglomeration of food shows in Chicago last month left the distinct impression that organic foods "are where it’s at" in terms of innovation and sales growth.

Well Noted: When Scientists Go Bad
05/01/2006
“Vitamin E is harmful”, “salt is poison”, “organic cookies decimate the endangered orangutan habitat” and “the childhood obesity crisis is a red herring made up by the liberal media.” These assertions are just a sampling of the flagrant misuses of science degrees by people who should know better. When it’s expert versus expert, everyone gets short-changed.

Well Noted: My Twenty Cents
04/01/2006
Diabetes afflicts an ever-growing percentage of the population. However, creators and manufacturers of foods designed either directly or indirectly to prevent the development of obesity and diabetes, are bringing more and more ammo to the battle every year.

Well Noted: Tell Me What to Eat
02/14/2006
Where nutrition educators are struggling, manufacturers may be succeeding.

Well Noted: 3-Grainer No-Brainer
02/06/2006
How can food and nutrition professionals best communicate to consumers advice on how to boost their intake of whole grains?

Well Noted: Talkin' 'Bout a Resolution
01/03/2006
What resolutions have you made for processing in 2006? Editor David Feder has a few suggestions.

Well Noted: Not Your Bubbie’s Kosher
12/06/2005
Kosherfest 2005 showed that the merger of the food industry’s two hottest trends is no mixed marriage.

Well Noted: You eat what you are
11/01/2005
The DNA of diet and other new trends from the American Dietetic Association conference.

Well Noted: Natural Products Expo East Report
10/03/2005
If it had a health component and could be eaten, imbibed, swallowed, lathered on, rubbed in or even worn, it was on the show floor at the Natural Products Expo East.

Well Noted: Marketing Matters
09/02/2005
The phrase “glycemic index” — GI — is being tossed about a lot in wellness foods circles lately. We heard a lot about the glycemic index within the patois of the low-carb diet craze. Most of what was said and written about GI was in the form of misguided, misunderstood or deliberately misdirected information.

Well Noted: Report from IFT
08/02/2005
This year's IFT show served up a plethora of new and wondrous ingredients, the wisdom of Malcolm Gladwell, and the announcement of the World Food Prize.

Well Noted: It’s About the Flavor, Dang It!
07/15/2005
Editor David Feder reminds us flavor is the name of the game.

Well Noted: Has Nutrition Reporting Turned a Corner?
07/05/2005
Editor David Feder, R.D., wonders if the tide is finally turning against slipshod reporting of nutrition science.

Well Noted: Diabetes in Transition
05/02/2005
Editor David Feder discusses how processors are working hard to make compliance easier for persons with diabetes.

Well Noted: Expert Witness
04/05/2005
Everybody's an expert -- or so they seem to think -- when it comes to nutrition. This myopic egotism opens the door to misinformation and a swarm of nutrition fads and crazes, says Editor David Feder.

Well Noted: Breaking Down Walls
03/01/2005
Wellness Foods exists to be of service to our readers. The same holds true for the Food Processing website and our e-newsletters. But is that message getting through? Editor David Feder tells why he sometimes feels like Rodney Dangerfield.

Well Noted: WF Snackdown
02/01/2005
Editor David Feder, R.D., wrestles with the question of what makes a snack -- and snacking in general -- "good" or "bad."