The Great Corn Sugar Swindle

W

hat do you when you’re a corn-based sweetner that’s gotten tons of bad press for being unhealthy, causing obesity, and providing no nutritional benefit? Why you change your name, of course! Maybe something less chemistry-ish. Something like, oh, I don’t know, corn sugar!

So far researchers haven’t found any reason to doubt claims that HFCS is no worse than sugar.

The FDA is considering changing labeling regulations so that the Corn Refiners Association can continue to put its obscenely unhealthy ingredient in just about every food and drink that you’ll find on store shelves.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has been the target of much derision by health experts, who say it is much more fattening than sugar, and in some foods might be a source of mercury, a known neurotoxin.

The Corn Refiners, naturally, claim that HFCS is as safe as sugar (which isn’t saying much), and so far researchers haven’t found any reason to doubt their claims. Still, HFCS has gotten a bad reputation among consumers, so the Corn Refiners want to give it a makeover, which has consumers crying foul.

A coalition of groups sent a letter to the FDA opposing the name change, claiming that consumers are against the rebranding by 100-to-1.