Corn Syrup – It’s Everywhere!

September 22, 2021 0 Comments

It’s almost impossible to pick up an item at the grocery store and not find some type of corn syrup among the ingredients. Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, glucose syrup, and fructose are all forms of corn syrup or its derivatives. What’s this love affair manufacturers have with corn syrup? Is it just a sweetener or does it serve other purposes as well?

Answers. cream, canned meats, canned fruits and vegetables, soups, beers, and many others. It is also used to provide an acceptable flavor to sealable envelopes, stamps, and aspirin. A derivative of corn syrup is high fructose corn syrup, which is as sweet as sugar and is often used in soft drinks. Corn syrup can be shipped and used as a thick liquid or it can be dried to form a crystalline powder. “

Corn syrup is mainly made up of glucose. It is only 75% sweeter than table sugar (sucrose), which is a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose. Because corn syrup lacks the full sweetness of sugar, it is often combined with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has a fructose to glucose ratio that is nearly identical to sugar. HFCS is often used only as a substitute for sugar.

What other functions does corn syrup play in addition to being a sweetener? One purpose is as a thickening agent, as in seasonings. Another is as a humectant (humectant), which prolongs the freshness and shelf life of baked goods and other products. Also, it doesn’t crystallize as easily as sugar, making it preferable to sugar for glazes and jams. It also helps keep ice crystals out of ice cream and other frozen desserts, makes jam taste fresher, and provides a sweet balance to acidic ingredients.

All of these reasons are great for food manufacturers – they can make foods that taste fresher, last longer, and are cheaper to prepare than foods with sugar. Why? Because corn is cheaper than sugar in America. (You may have noticed how expensive sugar is on a recent trip to the grocery store.)

Why is corn cheaper than sugar? Government subsidies and fees. The US government has imposed high tariffs on imported sugar and massively subsidizes the US corn industry There is no functioning free market economy here; It has been heavily manipulated. Guess who benefits? The big guys in the corn industry, they just make massive campaign contributions, but that’s another story.

Many people are quick to blame the current obesity epidemic on the prevalence of corn syrup and HFCS in the American diet. This is due in part to a scientific article written in 2004 by Barry M. Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and George A. Bray, professor of medicine at the Pennington Center for Biomedical Research in Baton. Rouge. , Louisiana, which noted a notable increase in obesity in Americans that paralleled increased use of HFCS by food manufacturers. However, in a July 2, 2006 NY Times article titled “A Bad Rap Sweetener,” Popkin was quoted as saying, “It was a theory intended to stimulate science, but it may well be found that it is not. true … I don’t think there should be a perception that high fructose corn syrup has caused obesity until we know more. “

It is more accurate to say that Americans consume much more “sugar” (including corn syrup and HFCS) than a generation ago. Soda consumption alone has increased fivefold since 1980, and it’s hard to find a soda in America that isn’t sweetened with HFCS. Most consumers are probably unaware of how much corn syrup they actually consume. As Americans continue to cook less at home and eat more prepared foods, they are consuming more foods that even a generation ago contained nothing or at least as much corn syrup and HFCS. A manufacturer may add corn syrup to their product for a reason other than a sweetener, but the result is even higher amounts of sugar and calories, and that’s what fuels obesity.

For a more detailed discussion of the history and manufacture of corn syrup, visit http://www.answers.com/topic/corn-syrup. Other websites with more information on corn syrup include http://www.karosyrup.com/faq.asp and http://www.ochef.com/362.htm. For more information on fees and subsidies, visit http://www.answers.com/topic/agricultural-subsidy. To read the NY Times article, see http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/business/yourmoney/02syrup.html?ex=1309492800&en=49fdce8d3bd886c5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.

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