Nutritionists and diet experts have long debated about the difference between table sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
Both are bad for you, of course, when overconsumed.
But if you’ve always had a hunch that there was something just evil about the government-subsidized, highly processed sweetness of high fructose corn syrup, here’s some more ammunition for the discussion.
According to a story in today’s Chicago Tribune, researchers detected traces of mercury in nine out of 20 samples of high-fructose corn syrup, according to a study published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health.
If you’ve seen the just-OK documentary, “King Corn,” which includes an attempt by amateurs at making HFCS, you know manufacturing the stuff is highly involved.
It’s why I wasn’t surpised to hear that the source of mercuy in the HFCS sampes “appears to be caustic soda and hydrochloric acid, which manufacturers of corn syrup use to help convert corn kernels into the food additive.”
Yum.
Of course, it’s just one study, but it seems like yet another reason to reach for whole foods, especially fruit, for a sugar rush, doesn’t it?
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