High Fructose Corn Syrup in Disney Desserts?

[tony67]

To me HFCS as well as Splenda and Equal type products are bad for us, it's a matter of it being an artifical product that our body doesn't process well. The end result in the processing is a mostly chemical substance that is made of mainly fructose which does terrible things to ones body. There have been plenty of independant studies showing the chemical breakdown including the Mayo Clinic and the American Diabetes Assoc. I understand some people don't believe it's bad for you, just like some people don't see the huge amount of hormones given to beef and dairy cattle as the contributor to the shocking decrease in age of puberty of children in the US and China (the 2 countries that use the highest amount of hormones in cattle). We all have to make a call for ourselves and our families as to what we think is best for our health.

I don’t disagree with you but even the mayo clinic is wishy washy on HFCS:
"So far, research has yielded conflicting results about the effects of high-fructose corn syrup"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588

In the end, like everything, it is about moderation.

Hormones in meat is an entire different topic and has nothing to do with HFCS.

 

[Planogirl]

I understand that the industry is now striking back claiming that HFCS is no worse than regular sugar. It should be interesting to see what happens.

I still to my mantra that moderation is key when it comes to pretty much anything. We're lucky that none of us have allergies though.

 

[Colleen27]

HFCS=current pointless panic. No worse for you than sugar. If it says corn syrup it's HFCS.

On a per-unit basis HFCS might not be any worse than sugar (though I personally believe the jury is still out on that count), but how much does that matter if there are more units of HFCS than sugar used in comparable products? For example, the ketchup I buy has 2 fewer grams of sugar per serving than Heinz. The BBQ sauce has 10 fewer grams of sugar than Kraft. Even junk food uses less sugar - 30g in HFCS-sweetened chocolate milk vs 25g in sugar-sweetened chocolate milk. And that all adds up to a lot of unnecessary calories.

BTW, by US labeling standards corn syrup is not the same as high fructose corn syrup and the terms are not interchangeable. The corn refining industry actually petitioned the FDA this week to be allowed to hide HFCS behind the new name of "corn sugar" in response to consumer demand for HFCS-free products, but they cannot currently label high fructose corn syrup under any other name/wording.

 

[NancyIL]

Whether or not HFCS is worse for you than sugar...there is nothing good about SUGAR!

 

[tony67]

Whether or not HFCS is worse for you than sugar...there is nothing good about SUGAR!

I think people are missing that thanks to the sugar industry.

All things in moderation.

I had an employee that ate too many bannanas.

It caused his potassium to be too high and it was a problem.

 

[TillyMarigold]

This is off topic, but it's quite easy to find ice cream without HFCS (in general). Just don't buy the cheap stuff (that applies to ice cream and most other sweets, for that matter). HFCS is cheap, that's why manufacturers use it.

Ben & Jerry's, Haagen Dasz, Breyer's, and Trader Joe's store brand are all HFCS-free or mostly HFCS-free (as in they may have some flavors with it but most are without).

Disney mostly uses Edy's ice cream where they serve hand-scooped (vs soft serve), which has corn syrup but not HFCS. (It also has mono and diglycerides, but no HFCS.)

 

[RMulieri]

I don't believe HFCS is good for you, but it is cheap and therefore used in everything these days.I honestly think that alot of american allergies are the result of the overabundance of corn , soy and peanut based ingredients in our food chain.I have also read the studies on HFCS..I avoid it as much as I can, but it is in literally almost everything these days

 

[WheresFigment?]

To me HFCS as well as Splenda and Equal type products are bad for us, it's a matter of it being an artifical product that our body doesn't process well. The end result in the processing is a mostly chemical substance that is made of mainly fructose which does terrible things to ones body. There have been plenty of independant studies showing the chemical breakdown including the Mayo Clinic and the American Diabetes Assoc. I understand some people don't believe it's bad for you, just like some people don't see the huge amount of hormones given to beef and dairy cattle as the contributor to the shocking decrease in age of puberty of children in the US and China (the 2 countries that use the highest amount of hormones in cattle). We all have to make a call for ourselves and our families as to what we think is best for our health.

I'm not sure where you're getting this information, but I have a few responses, from a biochemist:

1. of course it's a chemical substance. Fructose, sucrose, glucose, etc are all "chemical substances."

2. Fructose is a naturally occurring simple monosaccharide, which is also produced by digestion of sucrose (plain white table sugar.) Honey, tree fruits, berries, melon, and most root vegetables contain significant amounts of molecular fructose, generally conjugated with glucose, which is its structural isomer.

3. In fact, the chemical makeup of HFCS is, percentage wise, very similar to that of most bee honey.

4. While HFCS is in fact a mass produced compound, it is not a synthetic compound like artificial sweetener, it is a specific blend of fructose with regular corn syrup to produce a sweeter-tasting compound.

The fructose itself is not bad for you-- I strongly suggest you discontinue all consumption of fruits and root vegetables if you honestly believe that to be true. It is not an artificial sweetener like you're comparing it to (saccharin, aspartame, maltodextrin, etc).

An aside to the original question, but I do hate to see misinformation being spread. The studies have more to do with the way HFCS changes our metabolic regulation of sugar levels and our sensation response to sweetness, though many interpret them to mean something different entirely.

 

[sweetsusannah]

Well, after working in a medical university grants and research area for many years I was able/forced to read lots of independant studies as well as industry sponsored ones. HFCS is not a naturally occuring fructose, the fructose in fruit is. To say that eating a twinkie or soda with HFCS has the same effect on our a body as an apple isn't accurate but I am pretty sure you already know that and were using it for effect. Honey is also a naturally created sweetner and in my mind can not be compared to a sweetner that is created in a factory with chemicals that change it's molecular makeup. It is in fact a chemically converted hybrid of Fructose/ glucose. It has been shown in the studies I have read to actually be worse for diabetics than refined sugar, which by the way I also try to avoid.
I am sure you are a very educated, well read person and you are welcome to your views. But, so I am.

My point in my earlier post was that we all must read, research, and decide for ourselves. Not to just believe what others tell us to believe.

In the matter of the hormones in beef...I was using it as an example of another situation where the additives in our food are highly debated and people are devided on what they believe. Again, somewhere we need to inform ourselves and make the choice that WE feel is best for our families.

 

[WheresFigment?]

We may be arguing semantics here, but it's not actually chemically converted to a hybrid of fructose and glucose in the way I think you're describing. What happens is that corn syrup (which is almost 100% glucose) is treated with xylose isomerase, which converts roughly 42% of glucose to fructose. This is because glucose and fructose are structural isomers of each other-- they are chemically (formula wise) the exact same sugar, with different physical structures thanks to the physics of atom orientation in ring structures. The 42% ratio is a natural ratio for existing sugars and is typically the sugar composition of the root vegetables and fruits that you say have "naturally occurring" fructose.

The fructose is then separated out with liquid chromatography and mixed back with 100% glucose to get the standard ratios of 55% fructose, which actually, is almost the exact composition of sucrose (table sugar).

There is some argument that HFCS may be responsible for the production of damaging carbonyl compounds in people who consume large amounts of HFCS, and that those carbonyl compounds may be especially damaging in diabetic persons.

You have to be really careful about studies involving HFCS since many are paid for by industries with an interest in the outcome. Pepsico funded an oft-cited study that determined that HFCS had no significant metabolic impact. Several other frequently cited studies were paid for by Tate & Lyle, a large-scale corn refinery.

I'm not saying that you're wrong, but merely that from a scientific standpoint, HFCS is not any more highly processed than any number of other compounds you consume in a given day, including your drinking water, vegetables that you eat, and probably even your breakfast oatmeal.

 

[sweetsusannah]

Figment -
Yes, semantics. We are saying the same thing but believe differently about what we are saying, I think.

In simplified terms for those without a PHD, Corn Syrup which has no fructose (it’s glucose) is treated with several enzymes to change it into fructose, it is them mixed back with corn syurp (again, glucose) to create the desired ratio of Fructose/glucose for the application needed. I understand this.

To me despite the fact that you say they are then almost identical structurally, it is created and not naturally occurring. I chose to try to avoid it as much as possible; in fact my family tries to avoid most processed foods in general. We can’t always do that and that’s ok.

You have no problem with it and I think that is just fine too. You are obviously very informed and knowledgeable. Eat it, enjoy it! Hopefully, for the millions of people that eat and drink it daily you are right and I am wrong about how our body processes it.

We both have valid reasons for our views. I hope others, that are certainly bored of our banter, research it and come to their very own conclusion.

Peace.

 

[chamonix]

It's definitely more processed than "the vegetables I eat"! I don't eat canned or frozen vegetables, only fresh. So, the vegetables I eat come from a seed planted in the ground, a little rain and sun, about 60 days later it's picked, washed, and chopped up to eat. Sometimes I cook it, sometimes not. You really can't make assumptions about what others eat.

For me, I prefer to avoid HFCS, and all the soy by-products and other GMO garbage frankenfood in processed foods. I try not to buy anything that comes in a box or can--when I can avoid it, I do. So regardless of your assumption and evaluation, HFCs is processed enough that I avoid it. I feel best eating food that didn't make a lot of stops to get to my table.

I try to eat a whole foods, unprocessed diet as much as possible. HFCS has no place in my diet. It grows, I wash it and eat it. I see no need for HFCS if you're eating whole fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and grains.

That being said, when I'm on vacation I try not to notice that stuff, LOL a couple times a year won't kill me, since Im not allergic or anything. But I can only feel ok about that because the rest of the time I eat clean.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, you just have to ask.

Sadly, for vegans, the desserts available are completely impossible for my family (thankfully we're not vegan, just vegetarian), because tofutti things have corn syrup solids, and DS and DH cannot even have those (therefore, no Dole Whips, either).

Disneyland helped us pin down just what DS can and cannot have, actually. Freakish reaction after a PB&J caused us to read the label...Uncrustables have cs and hfcs. Huge reaction post Dole Whip, aha, there's corn syrup solids. etc etc.

Yes they use HFCS and food coloring like yellow #5 is in their vanilla ice cream Food coloring is in lots of the food at Disney. Children with sensitivities to food dye, artificial flavors, and preservatives have a hard time at Disney.

Most definitely.

Thankfully, Disneyland has Haagen Dasz, and WDW has Ghiradhelli, and if you go SIMPLE with their ice creams, it's OK. But the Nestle stuff is impossible.

Only frozen dessert at Disneyland that DS can have (inside the park) is a chocolate covered banana. The ice cream in the Mickey Bars has corn syrup (oddly, the chocolate coating is just fine).

I don't think it's a mysterious thing...with my family it's a blood sugar thing. When DH has it, his blood sugar spikes high and fast, and he passes out. SCARY. When DS has it, well we didn't have a monitor then (it was actually DS's reactions that caused us to look at DH, and he was diagnosed with blood sugar stuff after we started noticing and avoiding corn syrup products), so we don't KNOW what's going on, but it causes him to be incredibly hyper, unable to listen, has has to run in circles, and he can get quite violent. Seems like his blood sugar spikes high as well, but he just acts it out.

Neither of them has such a reaction to cane sugar, tapioca syrup, brown rice syrup, or any other syrup/sugar they have come across. DH's blood sugar goes up a bit when he has cane sugar, but it's a slow and gentle rise, not the sudden spike. He doesn't have the passing out response unless he eats WAY too much (which almost never happens anymore, as he controls his blood sugar with diet and exercise...sometimes he wishes he got insulin so he could cheat on his diet but quickly comes to his senses). DS gets active when he has, for instance, a homemade cake with homemade frosting, and you can see the difference, but he has yet to bite me visciously or kick and scratch at my face when it's just cane sugar. There's a difference, most definitely!

This is off topic, but it's quite easy to find ice cream without HFCS (in general). Just don't buy the cheap stuff (that applies to ice cream and most other sweets, for that matter). HFCS is cheap, that's why manufacturers use it.

Ben & Jerry's, Haagen Dasz, Breyer's, and Trader Joe's store brand are all HFCS-free or mostly HFCS-free (as in they may have some flavors with it but most are without).

Since we have to avoid more than just the HF CS, we have to be VERY careful. B&J is just horrible ever since they were bought out. I still haven't seen a flavor or product of theirs that DS can have.

HD is good with the simple flavors, but when you get more interesting flavors, we have to watch out.



***by the way, *light* corn syrup has HFCS in it.***

3. In fact, the chemical makeup of HFCS is, percentage wise, very similar to that of most bee honey.

Interestingly, the goop that beehive keepers leave out for their bees has cs and hfcs in it. Learned that from an organic honey seller, then looked into it. I cannot help but wonder if there's a reaction happening there, which is, perhaps, causing the bees to disappear (like a good friend's hive) and/or be "violent" (africanized bees).

We ONLY buy organic honey, because they aren't fed that goop.

Of course, I can't understand why bees are being fed *anything*, as I thought they would take care of that on their own!

What happens is that corn syrup (which is almost 100% glucose) is treated with xylose isomerase....
The fructose is then separated out with liquid chromatography and mixed back with 100% glucose to get the standard ratios of 55% fructose, which actually, is almost the exact composition of sucrose (table sugar).

There is some argument that HFCS may be responsible for the production of damaging carbonyl compounds in people who consume large amounts of HFCS, and that those carbonyl compounds may be especially damaging in diabetic persons.

mmm, makes it sound so good.



OP, just ask! If HFCS is all you have to look out for, you're relatively lucky! (but watch out for the "light" corn syrup, OK?) We've got hfcs, cs, cs solids, dyes, and meat products (I continue the quest to find a reasonable recipe for non cs, non gelatin "crispy cereal treat"! lol). The mind boggles!

 

[aubldr]

Some have posted that HFCS is only prevelant in the US because it is a "cheap" sweetener. Cheap is relative. HFCS is cheaper than sugar because of massive government subsidies to the corn industry, plus tarrifs on sugar imports that keep the price of sugar in the US about twice the price of pretty much everywhere else in the world. If the government would just get out of the way, HFCS would probably naturally go away.

 

[Planogirl]

Interesting discussion. I still don't know whether HFCS is actually bad for a person or not so I'll still stick to my moderation rule.

 

[somethingblue]

You guys should check out King Corn; it's an interesting documentary about the corn industry here in the United States. Food Inc is also an interesting watch, though a bit tedious.

Hope you get a good response from Special Diets, op!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm vegan and had major issues finding foods to eat at WDW (I don't eat wheat either, and if you are vegan, they usually just throw bread at you)

I don't expect them to cater to me, but it is alarming how difficult it is to find just fruits and veggies anywhere, much less WDW...but I digress...

HFCS makes me SICK. Very sick. Sugar gives me a headache. Splenda does nothing to me, so my personal opinion is that HFCS is worse for me. Sugar isn't much better, so I don't eat it either. All the research in world and semantics doesn't matter when your body reacts to a certain substance, IMO. Sometimes I just wish there were a few more unprocessed options!

BTW, what the corn industry is doing, trying to change the name of HFCS, is trickery. Do they think the American public are idiots? Clearly they do, they think if they just change the name to corn sugar, they will be able to sell their processed crap to all the dummies who aren't smart enough to know better. That's underhanded, IMO.

 

[NJ2Boardwalk]

Wow..what a biochemistry lesson I'm getting!
To the OP: my daughter is "allergic" to HFCS. Nothing fatal happens, but she gets a really bad stomach ache. She is already allergic to milk and the allergist/gastrointestinal doctors have told her to avoid it cause it's really hard to digest in sensitive people.

When we are at Disney they are FABULOUS with her allergies. The chefs go out of their way to make sure that she can eat milk free. The only problem we usually have is with dessert. At home we have her organic HFCS free products. At Disney she eats Haggen Das sorbet if available. But she also has the gluten/dairy free brownies and cookies. These are widely available in most of the counter service places on property. Sometimes you have to ask for them, but in places like the Main Street bakery they are available out to purchase. We now know where they are located so we stock up.

The other thing we did this past summer was order her a cake from the Grand Floridian bakery. This pasty chef is AMAZING!! I ordered her a small chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was milk free and HFCS free cause he made it himself. Even attached a list of ingredients to the top of the box. The cake was delivered to our room, fit comfortably in the small fridge, and we cut a piece every night and put it in a tupperware container so she could take it with her to dinner. Then, when our family ordered dessert....she had hers.

Good Luck to you..and rest assured you can find HFCS free products...just takes a little investigation.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Wow..what a biochemistry lesson I'm getting!
To the OP: my daughter is "allergic" to HFCS. Nothing fatal happens, but she gets a really bad stomach ache. She is already allergic to milk and the allergist/gastrointestinal doctors have told her to avoid it cause it's really hard to digest in sensitive people.

When we are at Disney they are FABULOUS with her allergies. The chefs go out of their way to make sure that she can eat milk free. The only problem we usually have is with dessert. At home we have her organic HFCS free products. At Disney she eats Haggen Das sorbet if available. But she also has the gluten/dairy free brownies and cookies. These are widely available in most of the counter service places on property. Sometimes you have to ask for them, but in places like the Main Street bakery they are available out to purchase. We now know where they are located so we stock up.

The other thing we did this past summer was order her a cake from the Grand Floridian bakery. This pasty chef is AMAZING!! I ordered her a small chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was milk free and HFCS free cause he made it himself. Even attached a list of ingredients to the top of the box. The cake was delivered to our room, fit comfortably in the small fridge, and we cut a piece every night and put it in a tupperware container so she could take it with her to dinner. Then, when our family ordered dessert....she had hers.

Good Luck to you..and rest assured you can find HFCS free products...just takes a little investigation.

and I completely agree with you about the Chefs! TS was amazing, they catered to my dietary issues really well (I don't eat dairy either!) I really don't eat much of anything, so it's pretty easy if they just throw me some fruits and veggies!

CS was much harder for me, I'm making sure we have at least 1 TS a day on our next trip!

So are all gluten/dairy free products free of HFCS as well? I don't normally eat processed stuff, but if they are, that would be a nice treat at WDW that wouldn't make me sick.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I'm not claiming to know any of the science behind any of this, but I'm glad some people came along to explain. Thanks!

I try to stay away from HFCS as much as possible. I'm a Type I (juvenile/insulin-dependent however you want to classify it) diabetic, and have been for awhile. Foods with HFCS in it tend to spike my sugar levels quicker and higher than foods that are made with cane sugar and other "natural" sugars.

A nutritionist told me it has something to do with the high glycemic index of corn and corn products.

So, in the interest of keeping my levels under control I make it a point to avoid as many HFCS products as possible. Obviously, in this day and age that is very difficult, so when I'm out at restaurants or other places I just make sure to test my levels a little more often, since the HFCS can creep up on me pretty quickly.

For the rest of my family it's just one of those, "If we don't have to, why should we?" type of things. Since the products made with cane sugar are out there, why subject ourselves to something created in a lab? Or something that supports the subsidized corn industry that has destroyed the lives of many farming families (debate for another place and time).