Rethink your Valentine's sweets says UMI Professor

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Food News Rethink your Valentine's sweets says UMI Professor

Posted By Tricia Childress on Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 1:03 PM

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Pamela Rockwell, D.O., assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan disputes the Corn Refiners Association current advertising campaign that claims high fructose corn syrup is natural. She says, “Sugar does not come from corn naturally.”

Rockwell disagrees with the sweetener’s claim to be “natural.” The association uses the term under accordance with the US Food and Drug Administration, which does not have a specific definition for the term and only restricts its use on products that contain added color, synthetic substances and flavors. High fructose corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn and processed with the use of genetically modified enzymes.

“Like sugar, high fructose corn syrup has minimal effects with moderate use, but it’s difficult to moderate intake when it’s used in many sodas, juices, condiments, salad dressings, processed foods and more,” says Rockwell, who is also Medical Director of U-M’s Family Medicine center at Domino's Farms in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“In moderation, both sugar and high fructose corn syrup are okay,” Rockwell says. “But your body metabolizes sugar better.”

Fructose is processed through the liver, causes increases in triglycerides and may cause alcoholic-type complications of fatty liver, the build-up of excess fat in the liver cells, in the long-run. Sucrose, which is table sugar, does not.

Many of the studies on this topic have been done by researchers paid for by the Corn Refiners Association, so the conclusions are suspect, Rockwell says. The Corn Refiners Association claim studies prove high fructose corn syrup to be a safe additive unlinked to diabetes and obesity, but independent studies are implying otherwise.