Blaming it on corn syrup Its increased use as a cheap sweetener is seen by some as responsible for soaring obesity.
By Patricia King, Special to The Times
Robyn Landis is a Seattle-based writer and educator who loves chocolate and has no intention of giving up cookies and cakes, at least in moderation. But when it comes to sodas and desserts sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, she believes in abstinence, not moderation.
"High-fructose corn syrup is a really low quality, really cheap sugar," the 38-year-old Landis says dismissively. The syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is then made sweeter by converting some of its glucose to fructose; the more fructose in the end product, the sweeter it is. "It is not something our bodies should be dealing with. It's completely unnatural."
She also objects to the fact that high-fructose corn syrup turns up in unlikely places, such as ketchup, baby food and baked beans. "Even chocolate tastes more like sugar than chocolate when it is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup," says Landis, who favors products sweetened with organic, unrefined cane sugar.
Natural food advocates such as Landis aren't the only ones zeroing in on high-fructose corn syrup. With waistlines expanding, the fattest and richest country in the world continues to look for nutritional scapegoats. Now that a high-fat diet is no longer our sole dietary demon, all varieties of sugar have made a comeback as logical culprits, as has the fast-food industry.
Last year, the bestselling "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" linked the obesity epidemic to "supersized" portions of fast food, including sodas.
This year, the subsidized corn industry is under attack in "Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World." Author Greg Critser points to high-fructose corn syrup as a villain because it enabled the food industry to increase portion sizes without sacrificing profits.
He also faults the sweetener for overloading the American diet with fructose. The "cornification" of the American diet, says Critser is "skewing the national metabolism toward fat storage."
Dr. George A. Bray, an obesity researcher and professor of medicine at Louisiana State University Medical Center, also singles out high-fructose corn syrup because the meteoric rise in its consumption closely parallels the jump in obesity rates. "Nothing else in the food supply does this. It's a very, very striking relationship."