High Fructose Corn Syrup—An Ingredient to Avoid

The other day I noticed a new shelf at Stop & Shop for Weight Watchers Bread. Since I'm always on the lookout for a lower-calorie bread, I checked the label and was surprised to find high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.

I put it back on the shelf. If Weight Watchers is about healthier living, why use a sugar substitute many experts say is unhealthy? 

The Corn Refiners Association defends high fructose corn syrup as it can be called natural since it is made from corn. Perhaps. But the FDA says if the cornstarch has come in contact with a synthetic chemical called glutaraldehyde, it cannot be labeled "all natural." But with or without glutaraldehyde, HFCS is not good for you and can be dangerous for diabetics.

A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that between 1970 and 1990, the consumption of HFCS increased 1,000 percent, and it now represents more than 40 percent of caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages.

Many well-known brands of baked goods and beverages use HFCS. Pepperidge Farm, for example, uses it. But there are many healthier types of bread available. Stop & Shop has a Nature's Promise version. I like the Vermont brand, which uses molasses instead of HFCS.

But at Stop & Shop and Kings, you have to be careful and read the labels if you want to avoid HFCS altogether. You should also be aware that the higher it is on the ingredient list, the more of it is in the product.

You can be less vigilant at Whole Foods. With its "no artificial ingredients" philosophy, HFCS are off limits in any store brand products.

The chain's website promises: "From the everyday to the gourmet, our family of brands offers a wide selection of natural and organic products. Exclusive to Whole Foods Market, all our products meet our strict quality standards—that means no artificial ingredients or hydrogenated fats. But wait, there's more. We never add high fructose corn syrup and avoid genetically modified ingredients. That's serious quality."

And if there are products in the store with HFCS, I failed to spot them, although there were complaints online about a few products with HFCS in Whole Foods stores in other towns. (The average grocery store stocks something like 48,000 products. so monitoring every single one would be quite a job.)

The corn people say HFCS is the same as sugar found in fruit. The difference is fruit provides fiber plus vitamins and minerals while HFCS provides a lot of calories but no food value whatsoever.

Like the sodium levels I wrote about last week, HFCS is an ingredient that needs to be checked. We need to know how many useless extra calories we are eating.

An addendum on sodium: One of our family favorites, Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, turned out to be so high in sodium it is ridiculous—660 milligrams per quarter cup. But when I tried something else, my grandchildren, who love Uncle Ben's wouldn't eat it. That shows me that what we accustom our children to is what they crave.

And that will go for convenience foods high in HFCS too. I e-mailed the Uncle Ben folks about cutting the salt in half because I am sure it would make a better product and still have enough salt to satisfy the grandkids. I didn't get an answer, but I tried. 

In the interest of better nutrition I am more than willing to forgo "convenience foods." Does anyone have a favorite and flavorful rice recipe to share?