High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has
spent several years becoming the villain of health reformers and public-health
do-gooders, taking the blame as an almost unstoppable force behind climbing
levels of obesity, diabetes, and the other public health "epidemics."
In fact, many health advocates say that HFCS is the latest tool of big, evil
food companies (and/or the medical/industrial complex) trying to KILL us all!
BAN IT NOW!
A new story in Scientific American ("Is Sugar Really Toxic?") reinforces what I have
always believed: There is nothing inherently harmful about consuming modest
amounts of HFCS, or any other sugar, as part of a balanced diet.
HFCS is a miracle of science, a cheap sweetener that brings
pleasure and variety to our diet. Our family loves a good salad, a serving of
freshly steamed broccoli, or a slice of whole-wheat toast. But we also enjoy an
occasional can of ice-cold soda, scoop of Sherbet, or bowl of Super Sugar Crisp
(now the absurdly renamed "Golden Crisp.")--all infused with HFCS.
Jog on, food-control nannies--we're going to continue to eat
modest portions of what tastes good, and let the joyless extremists vacillate
between public denunciations of supposedly evil foods and the secret binges
that feed the guilt they attempt to inflict on everyone else. (And by the way,
our kids have far fewer cavities than my spouse and I, who grew up in an era
before HFCS existed.)
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