Sugar by any other name is just as sweet

Sugar vs. High Fructose Corn Syrup

A client recently asked me if they should avoid high fructose corn syrup. I did a little research and here latest thinking on the topic. 

Experts agree that the typical American diet is too high in sugar. Where they disagree is whether one form of sugar is more of a health threat than another. High-fructose corn syrup has long been suspected as a contributor to the obesity epidemic but others say it’s not any worse than other types of sugar. Researchers have recently reported “any added sugar is bad sugar” and contend that even honey is just as unhealthy as high-fructose corn syrup.

Despite the recent challenge to the dangers of high-fructose corn syrup, some researchers still believe high-fructose corn syrup is a health threat and suspect the body does not process it the same as regular sugar. The glucose and fructose in high-fructose corn syrup aren’t chemically bonded, therefore more easily absorbed than table sugar is the thinking.

Other experts disagree and say the human body responds pretty much the same. Currently, there is not enough evidence to conclude that high-fructose corn syrup is more dangerous than other forms of sugar. Researchers agree that excess sugar contributes to obesity and diabetes and some feel the attention on high-fructose corn syrup may distract consumers from the real health threat from all forms of added sugar. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (100 calories) of added sugar per day for women and 9 (150 calories) for men.

Learn more:

“What is high-fructose corn syrup? What are the risks?” MayoClinic

“Any added sugar is bad sugar, some experts contend.” MedlinePlus

Shopping Made Simple

Supermarket savvy could be coming soon to a grocery store near you…

Can it be – is it possible that there may soon be a tool available at grocery stores to help us understand the REAL health benefits of food? For most of us in the health education world, this seems like a far off dream. Whenever I start a weight management group I begin by asking participants if they understand food labels and how to make healthy choices. Most think they have pretty good label skills, but in reality they don’t because it is HARD to find the truth on the nutrition label.

Test your skills with this quiz:

1. Rank the following foods from highest to lowest based on SODIUM content:
   
• YooHoo Chocolate Drink
  
• Cape Cod Potato Chips
  
• Chex Cereal
  
• Fritos Corn Chips
2. Which has more sugar: Ragu Pasta Sauce or Smucker’s Ice Cream Topping?
3. What is “unbleached enriched flour”?

How did you score?
Sodium makes food taste good and when it tastes good we eat more and when we eat more we need to buy more, which makes the food manufacturers happy. Do you really think they care about our health? Here’s the real ranking from least to most sodium: Cape Cod Potato Chips (73 mg per 100 calories), Fritos Corn Chips, YooHoo Chocolate Drink and saving the worst for last – Chex Cereal, with 233 mg sodium in a 100 calorie serving!

Added sugar can also enhance taste and add to the total calories of a seemingly “healthy” food. Yes, it’s true - Ragu Pasta Sauce has MORE sugar than the Smucker’s Ice Cream Topping, with 12 and 11 grams per serving respectively. There are 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon, so that 100 calorie serving of pasta sauce has 3 teaspoons of sugar!

“Whole Wheat” or “Faux Wheat”? If a product is really made from whole grain “whole wheat flour” will be the first ingredient. “Unbleached enriched flour” is white flour in a fancy dress. Most breads with names like “multi grain, stone ground or wheat” are not made from whole-wheat flour. Read the ingredient list to be sure you are getting the real deal.

Help is on the way!
On Sunday, March 16, the Chicago Tribune ran an article “Food retailers hope to inspire loyalty, increase sales with their own nutritional labels…” about a nutrition score card system that will be appearing soon in Hy-Vee grocery stores across the Midwest. The scoring system is called the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI) and was developed by a team of experts led by Dr. David Katz of Yale University.

The ONQI will help shoppers choose foods based on overall nutritional quality and free from label claims made by the manufacturer. Personally, I’m really excited about this and professionally this could have a profound effect on public health. Eating the right foods could result in an “80% reduction in heart disease, a 90% reduction in diabetes, and a 60% reduction in cancer” according to Dr. Katz.

Currently the ONQI team is working with Topco, which provides procurement, quality assurance, packaging and other services to supermarket retailers, wholesalers, and food service companies. Hy-Vee is one of Topco’s 61 members, and so is Bashas’ which is located in the Southwest (where I live). Topco members serve over 60 million consumers and have over $100 billion in annual sales.

Other grocery stores are making attempts too. Safeway has a tool on their website called foodflex™ to help consumers determine the nutritional value of foods they have purchased.

I hope to see other grocery stores take an interest in consumer health too. It would be great to see the ONQI become a mainstream tool for us to evaluate food choices. Whether we realize it or not, most of our health decisions are made in the grocery store – not in the doctors office!