High Fructose Corn Syrup

On tv the other day I saw this disturbing commercial

For years I've been avoiding high fructose corn syrup.  Back then my studying had shown that our bodies metabolize high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) differently then other sugars because of how HFCS is processed.  Of late, I've been so excited that more and more food companies are coming around to this fact and were no longer using HFCS.  Over the past year I've been buying only ketsup and maple syrup and other foods that boldly stated on their labels "No High Fructose Corn Syrup".

This commercial claims that "sugar is sugar" which got me back on my high horse.  In re-researching the topic I came across this great article on WebMD.  It sites the 2004 study that implicated HFCS as the cause of the rise of obesity.  The article then sites the study that was released in 2008 which says that the rise in the American obesity level is not the fault of HFCS alone but the shear amount of sugars present in our diets..."emerging, but still preliminary, evidence suggesting a link between high-fructose corn syrup and heart and kidney disease...The obesity question has been answered...high-fructose corn syrup is no worse and no better than any other sugar (for weight gain). But other questions remain."

Another tidbit I learned during all this research is that food companies are using a different name for the infamous high fructose corn syrup: corn sugar.

In going to my own pantry I re-examined the labels of my supposed "no high fructose corn syrup" products and was both pleased and disappointed.

The Hunts ketsup lived up to its front label as it only has regular sugar in it but the Log Cabin syrup (which I paid more for) still has high fructose corn syrup in it - they just used the new name of corn syrup.

I'm definately going to be reading the food labels a lot closer now and so should you.