Artificial Additives Archives

A Quest for Food – Giving It Up for Health

October 20, 2009

Our second guest post in the Quest for Food Series is from Cathy at A Life Less Sweet. She is here to share some of her family’s journey to reduce their consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Her background in chemical engineering gives her a unique perspective on the topic. If you are confused at all about this ingredient she will clear it up for you as well as show you how reducing one ingredient common in packaged foods can change your diet completely; for the better, of course.

A little over a year and a half ago, my family had a diet not unlike much of America. Though we thought a bit about our food, our diet was loaded with processed foods. I’ve done some pretty extreme diets before for my kiddos who each had major food intolerances as infants, but everyone could finally eat what they wanted…and we did. Then the background noise about HFCS finally sunk into my brain, and I started looking into this ingredient. I didn’t like the information that I found, and we decided to give up foods containing HFCS cold turkey. We’ve been on a food journey ever since, and we aren’t looking back!

What is HFCS?

Do you know what this mysterious ingredient that shows up in everything from stewed tomatoes to soda is? High fructose corn syrup is a liquid mixture of two different sugars – glucose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup usually contains about a 50% mixture of the two, though it can have a little more or less fructose depending on the buyer’s needs. Regular corn syrup is only glucose – no fructose. To produce high fructose corn syrup, a corn kernel is manipulated and taken through a complicated series of reactions and processes until it has been transformed into the sugary goo.

How is HFCS different from sugar?

Table sugar – aka sucrose – is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. That’s a fancy way of saying that glucose and fructose are bound together to form a single molecule. Table sugar consists of a 50/50 mixture of glucose and fructose bound to each other. High fructose corn syrup, on the other hand, contains free glucose and fructose. So, while sucrose and HFCS both contain about 50/50 fructose and glucose, they are not the same.

Does this make a difference? It makes a big difference in taste. Fructose is sweeter than both glucose and sucrose, so HFCS is sweeter than sucrose because the exra-sweet fructose is free to tickle your taste buds. (There are a slew of other product quality reasons manufacturers might choose HFCS over sugar for their product. HFCS can extend product shelf life, help keep it moist, give baked goods a nice crumb, etc.)

There is great debate over whether HFCS is actually any worse for you than sugar. Many assert that they are the same in your body – that sucrose breaks down into free fructose and glucose in our stomachs so fast as to render sucrose and HFCS indistinguishable. There are others that are very concerned about the free fructose present in HFCS and the implications of our bodies struggling to break down this sugar. Our bodies aren’t designed to handle large quantities of fructose. Fructose is processed differently than glucose – too much stresses the body and can result a slew of health problems, including high triglycerides, diabetes, and obesity. (Other factors can also contribute to these health problems, of course.)

I’ll be honest – I don’t know where I stand on this issue at the moment. I must admit, I am skeptical of the assertion that sucrose quickly becomes the same as HFCS in our stomachs. I’m skeptical because of my limited knowledge of how hard it is to break down sucrose into its component sugars industrially. Conversion of sucrose to invert sugar (a mixture of fructose and glucose and often residual sucrose) industrial is low – even under harsh conditions of high temperatures (much higher than our body’s temperature) and very acidic conditions. Maybe sucrose is just like HFCS in our bodies, but I’m not convinced. In the end, it really doesn’t matter as far as I’m concerned.

Why are we giving it up?

Our journey was spurred by concern of over consuming fructose. Since then, I’ve found that the quality of our diet has improved upon giving up HFCS. Giving up HFCS made us give up a lot of junk and switch to higher quality foods. We think about what we’re consuming more. With two young kids to think of, eating higher quality foods (which usually translates to fresher and less processed) and teaching them to like those foods is really our biggest motivator. As new research has poured in causing people to question whether HFCS is any worse than sugar (see my opinion in the section above), I found that whether it does or doesn’t, I still don’t want my family to consume this stuff.

First, there are the health concerns. I don’t think that we know all there is to know about this ingredient and how our body processes it. Second, I’ve found that HFCS as an ingredient really is a good marker of poor quality food. It’s a cheap ingredient and used because of that. That doesn’t mean that foods without HFCS are automatically good, but seeing HFCS as an ingredient tells me – no matter how fancy the packaging – that the product is using cheap ingredients (and probably has a list of ingredients as long as your arm).

As we’re trying to eat better foods – higher quality foods – I’m happy to just avoid all foods with HFCS. There are other reasons – like not supporting the corn economy or eating fewer processed foods (because an ingredient doesn’t get any more processed than HFCS!) – for giving up HFCS as well.

How has this small change affected our lives?

Giving up HFCS has had kind of a snowball effect on our diet. The simple act of giving up HFCS has forced us to consider the foods that we’re buying more carefully. We’ve since given up trans fat and are eating fewer processed foods. We eat meatless at least one day a week. And amazingly, it’s been a fairly painless transition! I find homemade or at least more acceptable processed foods to replace the HFCS or trans fat laden treats that my son sees his friends eating. Our diet is still evolving, but it’s going in the right direction. My kids are learning to accept healthier food, and hopefully our choices now will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

P.S. In case you are just stopping by, I’m in the process of moving back to the US and am currently on an extended trip in SE Asia. I have weekly guest posts lined up this month and will be stopping by with foodie pictures from our travels as time permits.

Photo courtesy of the guest author.

Giving Up Soda: Lack of Access Makes It Easier

May 8, 2009

If you follow me at all on Twitter you know that I’m back in the US spending some time with my family. It is a wonderful time of year to be back. My Dad’s garden is green as can be and the strawberries are bright red just begging to be eaten right off the plant.

Every time I’ve returned to the US since living abroad for the last 20 or so months I learn a bit more about how my eating habits have changed for the better. One area in which I’ve made huge improvements is soda consumption, specifically diet soda, and I’ve talked about this some before.

I always considered myself one of those people who would never give up my diet soda. I had the attitude that even if it wasn’t the best thing for me, at least it wasn’t adding calories to my day and extra pounds to my thighs. I could live with that choice.

As my knowledge of the effects of aspartame and the ingredients in sodas grew I was continuously faced with the fact that this was a habit I needed to break. When I made the move abroad the opportunity to reduce and eliminate diet soda from my daily routine had arrived.

Don’t let me mislead you. Soda is being consumed in mass amounts in Brazil. In some areas, I dare say as much as it is the US. The only difference where we live is that there aren’t any fountain drinks; the locals in our area – mostly teens and children – share two liter bottles during their meals and snacks.

What has changed for me is my personal access to it. My habit when living in the US was to buy a 12-pack each time I grocery shopped, once a week to once every two weeks. I averaged about two a day – one mid morning and one late afternoon. Add that to the fountain drinks I had with me each time I took a road trip for work (about once a week ) and that adds up to a lot of diet soda.

Now, I’m in a place where soda is more expensive. Cans are sold individually or in six-packs at the very most. Two liters are available, but I’ve never liked them anyway. After a few months in my new home I found myself only occasionally buying a 20 oz bottle to drink and getting a can when I ate out. (The only place I’ve seen fountain soda is at McDonald’s and it’s not free refills.)

As I drank it less and less I began to truly feel the affects all those chemicals were having on me. It seemed each time I had one I felt sluggish, groggy and a little sick to my stomach. I’m thinking this is likely because my body had a chance to get everything out of its system before my next soda. It wasn’t constantly swimming through my veins.

I finally reached a point where it wasn’t worth feeling bad for a drink and I’ve not only reduced it, but pretty much eliminated drinking soda all together. I can’t say I won’t ever have one again, but if I do, it will be rare occurrence.

So now that I’ve made this change I find myself back in the US. From the second I enter the terminal of the airport I am surrounded by soda of some form and everyone is drinking it. To be honest it is almost difficult not to drink it.

As bad as I know I will feel, the pressure of advertisement and availability are hitting me in the face. I think about all the things that went so well with it before – pizza, Mexican food, salty snacks. I have been tempted multiple times after being home just two days. I’ve had to make a conscious effort not to turn to a soda as my beverage.

This experience makes me realize why many people can’t give it up. I consider myself darn lucky that I was put in a position where I was pretty much forced to reduce my consumption which allowed me to realize the physical effects of my addiction. Had I stayed in the US these past 20 months I may have reduced my consumption a little bit, but it would have been a lot harder.

Even when you know the risks associated with eating or drinking something unhealthy or unnatural it takes an incredibly strong person to resist the pressures of this society we live in, and the constant availability and advertisement which result in cravings. I think this goes for most unhealthy choices. It is not an excuse, it is reality.

I have learned a lot about myself and my eating patterns by giving up soda. I once had the idea that if I gave it up the aspartame would stop affecting my metabolism and weight loss would be easier. Wrong. I now realize how much I used diet soda as an appetite suppressant especially during the afternoon. While I’ve replaced that non-calorie, chemically laden drink with real food containing nutrients, I’ve also replaced it with calories. Yes, I’m better off, but weight loss has become even more difficult.

I won’t lie and say that I notice a major difference in energy levels or vibrancy since giving it up. In those areas, I feel the same, however, now I can identify when I have had one and it does affect how I feel at the time of consumption. Because my system has rid itself of all those substances it now recognizes them as foreign. This is a very good thing because it is foreign. I finally gave my body the opportunity to tell me this instead of suppressing the warning signs by pumping it full of diet soda after diet soda.

Overall, am I happy I gave them up? Of course! Whether or not I lose weight or have increased energy isn’t the important issue in this case. Diet soda was my main source of chemical sweeteners and it is now gone. I know without a doubt I am healthier for it. I want to fill this body with real food and soda is definitely not a real food.

What foods or drinks have you worked hard to give up for improved health, but find that the pressures of society (however you define them) make it a difficult task to accomplish? Have you ever been in a situation similar to mine where lack of access made making a healthy choice easier?

This post will be submitted as part this week’s Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

My Agave Research and More Sugar Confusion

January 29, 2009

I’ve been spending part of my week researching sugars and supposedly natural sweeteners. What I have determined is – I have a headache!

I’ve become more interested in sugar lately because 1) We now live in Brazil where the sugarcane industry is huge. 2) I notice a lot of people switching from this sweetener to that one in an effort to be more ______________ .(Fill in the blank with your choice of words: healthy, green, natural, fake food free, etc.)

I use refined white sugar in moderation. Yes, I do know that this is a processed food, has addictive properties, and on, and on. I’ve read it all. I use a lot less of it currently, but still use the traditional recipes that have been in my family since my great grandmother and they call for sugar.

I’ve been questioning agave nectar for a while which lead me to look at other sugars which has led me to the conclusion – raw honey and pure maple syrup probably reign supreme for being the most natural sweeteners. When it comes to all the others, one is just about as bad as the other, for one reason or another.

What started my search: Agave

As most of you probably already know agave comes from the core of the agave plant in Mexico. The short story is the juice is extracted, filtered, heated and hydrolyzed (a chemical process to break bonds) to break down its naturally long fructose chains. So it is basically a processed sweetener and the result is 90% fructose. As most of the information I read states, HFCS gives is about 55% fructose.

Why can fructose be a problem?

As long as you eat fruit you consume fructose. The main reason commercial products containing fructose are a problem is the massive amount (like most things in our society) we are consuming versus the amount we would typically consume from fruit.

One research study I read from Nutrition & Metabolism stated that fruit contributed about 16 – 20 grams per day, while commercial foods are now giving us 85 – 100 grams of fructose a day.

Fructose, unlike other sugars, is absorbed and metabolized directly by the liver. It’s possible this overabundance can lead to problems with insulin sensitivity and obesity. Some evidence of it contributing to a fatty liver has been suggested as well.

So what’s the conclusion?

Heck if I know! Just kidding.

The truth is I’m on a journey just like you – to continue cleaning up my diet and separate myself from this society that seems to be tricking us into believing what is healthy and what is not. My nutrition background helps me to understand how things are processed in our bodies and how things are processed commercially, but that doesn’t mean I have all, or any, answers to the sweetener debate. Well, except for the fact that I’m not in favor of artificial sweeteners at all.

My personal consensus is that I’m not going to switch to something like Agave nectar as my sweetener because I don’t think it is any better than white sugar. I plan to incorporate more raw honey and maple syrup (If I can afford it. U$ 13 for a tiny can at my grocery store in the States.). I’ll continue to use white sugar in some of my baking. At the same time I will be trying to reduce my needs for sweets/sugars all together.

If you’re interested, here is a list of some of my reading along the way. Some of it honest, some of it fact and some of it swayed by industry. I think it is important to check out all sides and decide the best approach for you, keeping common sense in mind.

I also want to mention if you haven’t checked out the blog The Nourished Kitchen and are interested in sweeteners, go there now! She has some great posts on modern and natural sweeteners that I found in my search: Modern Sweeteners: What Are They & What They Do and A Guide to Natural Sugars & How to Use Them

Here are some of my other reads:

Madhava Agave Nectar
The Truth about Agave Syrup from Living and Raw Foods
White sugar vs raw sugar from Green living tips
White Sugar from a processor of Brazilian sugarcane

Photo by Neal McQ, www.freerangestock.com

Well, It Is Here

January 19, 2009

There has been a repetitive ad in every single health magazine I have read in the New Year. (It has been a lot of magazines, by the way. It was a long flight to Brazil!)

What is that ad, you ask? Truvia™

If you remember back in October I did a post about the Great Sweetener Debate where I talked about the sweetener stevia and some of the concerns that exist at the moment regarding its safety.

We knew it was coming and here it is. Truvia™ is the commercial name they have given to stevia rebiana. It is likely you are going to see it popping up in products a lot now if you haven’t already.

It looks like our FDA gave the company the thumbs up on safety in foods. However, the product is still quite controversial around the world. It is widely used in Japan, some countries have put a limit on what can be considered safe intake amounts and it is still banned in Europe. The bans result from early studies suggesting it could negatively influence reproduction and be carcinogenic.

Is that really any surprise? I mean, look at all the controversy surround aspartame, saccharin and sucralose.

I guess we’ll all just have to decide for ourselves. I’m planning to stick with my regular sweeteners of plain ol’ white sugar, brown sugar and honey. No, chemicals for me thanks. Even if it comes from a plant and is termed “natural” there always has to be something going on to mass produce it commercially.

If you want to read more about it there is a great article on treehugger, including some info about how the tribes of Brazil and Paraguay used to chew on the leaves believing it was a method of birth control. Yikes!

Tell me what you think.

Photo by Pat Her, www.morguefile.com

Design Your Own Bars

December 5, 2008

I came across the coolest thing in one of my magazines the other day. Did you know you can design your own nutrition/energy bars?

First, before I explain I have to say that, no, I have not ordered any so I can’t vouch for anything, but the idea was so cool I just had to share.

You Bar allows you to build your own bar. You pick the ingredients and even the packaging. How cool is that? There are many organic ingredients to choose from and even agave nectar or honey can be used for sweeteners.

I thought these ingredients sounded great (not necessarily together) – cashew butter, organic pumpkin seeds, organic cacao nibs and organic shredded coconut.

They’ll cost you $40 for a dozen according the article. Pricey, but what a fun gift. You can get gift certificates for people to build their own.

If nothing else, it is fun to look over the site and see all the cool combinations you could come up with. You’ll be able to see the nutrition info as you build it.

If anyone has tried this before or ends up doing so you have to let me know how they are!

The Great Sweetener Debate

October 2, 2008

Sugar and sweeteners. It is amazing how such a simple taste can be such a huge topic of debate.

Everyone has different views about which sugar, herb or manufactured product is best for their sweet foods and drinks. I know that a lot of people have turned to stevia after learning all the bad news about aspartame, saccharine, and for some, sucralose.

It is natural, right?

I’ll be honest. I’ve always been a bit skeptical. I’ve never used it simply because there has been some unclear info out there regarding its safety. Now, I don’t use hard research as a basis for every decision I make. Sometimes people are ahead of the research curve.

However, for some reason, in this case, I have listened to the research. Maybe it has something to do with being burned by believing that those fake sweeteners were good for me once upon a time.

I used to religiously subscribe to the Nutrition Action Health Letter published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I loved the newsletter and will probably subscribe again someday, but I admit (agreeing with some of my past nutrition professors) that the center can be a bit radical with overreactions.

I do think they have good research to back them up on some of their views, though, so I check their web-site out from time to time for new info.

I came across an article that was posted about stevia. Apparently rebiana, an extract from stevia is planning to debut in soft drinks soon. The big dogs are very excited about this. Here is a quote from the article:

“Coke, Pepsi, and other companies are excited about rebiana, because it supposedly tastes better than crude stevia, which is sold as a dietary supplement in health-food stores. After all the controversies pertaining to saccharin, aspartame, and other artificial sweeteners, the food industry expects many calorie-conscious consumers to eagerly opt for this natural sweetener.”

First, let’s point out that the soda companies are not excited that this could be a new healthy option for people. They are excited that we will probably buy more of their products. Big surprise there!

The problem is that some research out there indicates that the sweetener may be linked to mutations and DNA damage. This leads to speculation regarding the possibility of it increasing cancer risk.

Right now stevia is not considered GRAS. Okay, first of all I really don’t like this term. It stands for Generally Regarded as Safe according to the FDA. Knowing something is generally regarded as safe to put in my body causes a bit of concern for me. I still question foods that even make this category.

I am all for the use of alternative medicine, herbs and the like. It is true these things have been used throughout time to cure, sweeten and do just about everything. The problem is they were used in a manner unlike how we use them today.

Case in point, mass production in soft drink products. These days there are things we eat or chemicals in other products that these natural substances can react with making them unsafe. Just something I think about.

I bring this up only to inform. As I said, many people have differing views when it comes to sugar replacers. Personally, I use plain old white sugar in moderation. I have no problem with it and aside from its overuse being associated with weight gain and diabetes I feel it can be enjoyed in moderation. Yes, I do know about the addiction speculation, but moderation is key to me. I also use honey.

So tell me, what is your preferred sweetener? Why is it the best choice for you?

Photo of Stevia rebaudiana by Ethel Aardvark, Wikimedia Commons

Mock Foods

October 1, 2008

I just love it when you are trying to come up with a post topic and one just falls into your lap. My good friend just sent me an article on fake foods. Thanks Karen!!

The wacky world of fake food published on chicagotribune.com today.

This article is entertaining and full of information. It provides an interesting look at our food history from trying to make one food look like another to all those manufactured substitutes that have snuck into our daily routine such as sugar replacers.

Some of these things are actual food made to be other foods while others are those fake products a lot of us are trying to reduce in our diets.

One interesting thing it brought up is that some foods such as peanut butter have requirements regarding the percentage of an ingredient (peanuts) that must go into the product. Other things, can contain little of the product it is actually named for.

The example mentioned involves a lawsuit filed against Kraft and their Guacamole. Apparently it is less than 2% avocado.

It even gives some reasons why fake food has become so popular.

Here are a few:
impress
deceive
fun
religious reasons
nutritional reasons

Some of the things mentioned I have never heard of. Read the article to find out more, but here are some that either brought back memories or gave me a good laugh.

Ritz Mock Apple Pie
City chicken
Turkey Bacon
Cheese-food
Mock Lobster made of soybeans????

Hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!

Photo by Hillary, www.morguefile.com

A Life Less Sweet Guest Post

September 25, 2008

Good morning!
I did a guest post for Cathy at A Life Less Sweet on HFCS from an ex-pat perspective. If you’d like to check it out, head over there today and take a look. Feel free to leave any comments and I will answer you there.

Could It Be?

September 16, 2008

I will admit I am a huge Starbucks fan. Unlike some others I know, for me this does not translate to frequent visits. It is much too difficult for me to part with $5.

I kind of like it this way though because it has remained a real treat for me. Back home I went about 3 times a month. It would be my meeting place with friends to catch up or something to cheer me up when I was having a really bad day.

By the way, have you ever been to a Starbucks in Seattle. I’ve never heard such complex orders in my life. I actually felt a little stupid when I just ordered a non-fat latte. I felt like I should be more creative or something.

Okay, back to the point.

Well, surely you’ve noticed how desperately hard they are trying to appeal to the health conscious. Considering the fact that they have always had a skinny latte, yet now they feel the need to market it.

I’ve never really had a hard time choosing a healthy beverage there. Their pastries are a different story.

I rarely get one, but when I do it has to be a scone. Unbelievable! Luckily I have as much of a conscious about consuming 500 calories in 3 bites as I do parting with $5.

When I saw all their ads for healthy foods I thought – Here we go. Lets load ‘em up with sugar and fat replacers and call ‘em healthy.

But I got a friendly marketing email from them last night.

Could it be that they’ve actually created a truly health option? Part of the email stated,

“Together they are made from a range of great ingredients, including whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds. None contain artificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup.”

Now, I haven’t seen the whole ingredient list, but this is enough to make me look into it. Here are the products if you haven’t seen them yet.

Now, I can’t say this will make me start buying breakfast there. It is really just a specialty coffee place for me. I still need to see the calorie content, but I am glad to see the bit about the sweeteners.

They may provide a better option for those frequent visitors. Well, that is as long as they don’t pair it up with a venti, whole milk, white chocolate mocha every day.

Photo by blitzkrieg, www.morguefile.com

Jell-No!

September 11, 2008

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been on any type of restrictive eating plan (aka, diet) where sugar free, fat free pudding or flavored gelatin was your main source of dessert.

Yes, my hand is up.

Not recently though. Over the past couple years whenever eating this lackluster sweet, I could immediately tell I’d eaten the chemicals.

Speaking of chemicals, is there any actual food in this stuff?

For those who may not know gelatin is made from collagen which is in animal connective tissue. I remember the day I learned this in one of my nutrition classes. I was a bit grossed out.

Connective tissue? Yum, bring on dessert!

I guess one could stretch that technically this is a natural ingredient despite the face that it is processed. It is just all the other stuff in there. Flavors, colors, and in the fat and sugar free versions, aspartame or similar sweeteners. The fat and sugar free pudding is similar as far as chemical sweeteners go.

A dessert filled with this stuff usually leaves me with a headache and feelings of sluggishness. I think it is mainly from the over consumption of aspartame.

If you think about all the desserts boxed pudding and gelatin are used for, it is usually an excess amount of the stuff. Not only do you use the pudding mix, but sugar free, fat free whipped topping as well. Too much!

I continue to be amazed how as a society we’ve accepted these foods as healthy or diet friendly. I am a believer that you are better off eating a homemade cookie or piece cake with real ingredients than a spoonful of chemicals.

No doubt this stuff has some staying power. Although in the beginning it wasn’t there to be diet food, it was more there for convenience. I learned when I read Something From the Oven that cookbooks throughout history are filled with gelatin desserts from boxed mixes.

Then the non-fat, non-sugar versions came out and it was instant low calorie, health food.

I’m guilty of indulging in a gelatin dessert and a pudding cup in the past. Speaking of this did you see the Sex and the City movie? I was just able to see it on the flight back from Ireland. I loved the part where Charlotte would only eat pudding cups in Mexico. Too funny!

Anyway, this is one of those foods that was relatively easy for me to give up. Not nearly as difficult as diet soda! However, I do think I’ve kicked the diet soda habit except for my occasional cocktail. I’m having a hard time parting with it as a mixer.

Photo by Seemann, www.morguefile.com