Picture by Thomas Picard
In a previous article, I discussed the contamination of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) with mercury. While a great concern, it's not the only, or even the main, health risk. Among the issues is simply the ease of consuming far too many calories.
According to statistics from the American Heart Association, the prevalence of obesity in American adults was pretty stable from 1960-1980, then climbed 61% in men and 53% in women by 1988.
What change happened in the intervening 8 years? Along with the Soviet War in Afghanistan and the introduction of "Hair Bands" to the music scene was the virtually complete switch in soft drinks from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup.
"Grandpa, tell us about the olden days. Did restaurants really make you pay if you wanted a second soda?"
"They sure did, Billy. And the 'large' pop was only 16 or 20 ounces - not 44!"
Mercury in HFCS is a concern, but it's not intrinsic to the sweetener (therefore the problem can be fixed). What is unquestionably true is it's cheap!
The replacement of sugar with corn syrup meant that restaurants and convenience stores could start carrying truly ridiculous sizes of soft drink cups, as well as letting patrons serve themselves refills.
Think about this: a fast-food lunch consisting of a Quarter Pounder®, small french fries, and the old "Regular" size 12 oz Coke® (which is now considered the "child size") provides 750 Calories - not a great quality lunch, but at least within the caloric ballpark for a normal active adult. Change the drink to a 42 oz "Super Size" beverage plus a refill for-the-road, and the calories jump to over 1400...almost double the calories, with the difference being 210 grams of pure sugar - no nutritional value whatsoever*.
What's more, not only does this extra 650 calories provide no nutritional value, it doesn't sate our hunger. It has become far too easy to consume an entire day's worth of calories without feeling like we've eaten any more than a large-ish lunch. And of course, Coca-Cola isn't the highest-calorie soft drink available. A 64 oz convenience store cup of Mountain Dew® contains 715 calories, and Welch's® Grape Soda contains almost 825.
At approximately 3500 calories per pound of body fat, drinking one 44 oz Coke per week will add approximately 8-1/2 lbs of fat to your body per year. Add to this the fact that sugar tends to make you more thirsty (thus leading to that refill), and you have a perfect setup for the state of "overfed and undernourished" our society finds itself in.
Oh, and don't be fooled by so-called "sports drinks", or vitamin-and-electrolyte-enhanced water products. If you're at half-time in a football game or mile 15 of a marathon they can help. Otherwise, they're just another category of soft drink.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution: don't slake your thirst with pop! Good old water is the perfect thirst quencher, and if you still crave the flavor of a soft drink after your body's needs are met (which you often won't), you can enjoy it as a special treat in a reasonably-sized serving.
McDonalds nutrition information
Statistics on obesity trends from the American Heart Association
American Heart Association web site
Comments
When you say Welch's Grape are you talking about soda or juice? Because the 100% Concord grape juice is actually quite healthy for you and only contains natural sugar from the grapes. It promotes satiety, fights cancer and heart disease and counts as a serving of fruit. There is a huge difference between the soda and the juice. Why don't you recommend the juice as an alternative to the soda in general. Personally, I like to mix Welch's grape juice with seltzer water and it's quite refreshing, like a cheap non-alcoholic version of champagne.
Ah - thanks for that! I did in fact mean soda. I've made the correction in the article.
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of juice as a thirst quencher, simply because it does have a fairly high sugar-to-nutrition ratio. I'm much more a proponent of eating whole fruit.
A single serving of juice (6 oz) as a treat is fine, but it really is the sugar of 4-6 servings of fruit with very few of the benefits. General rule-of-thumb: don't drink your calories!
No mercury or mercury-based technology is used in the production of high fructose corn syrup in North America.
The American public can rest assured that high fructose corn syrup is safe. Safety is the highest priority for our industry, which is why we immediately commissioned external testing as well as independent expert review of claims concerning mercury and our corn sweetener.
Woodhall Stopford, MD, MSPH, of Duke University Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading experts in mercury contamination, reviewed the results of total mercury testing of samples of high fructose corn syrup conducted by Eurofins Central Analytical Laboratory (Metairie, LA) in February and March 2009. Dr. Stopford concluded:
• No quantifiable mercury was detected in any of the samples analyzed.
• High fructose corn syrup does not appear to be a measureable contributor to mercury in foods.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
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