Page 46 - Spring2009

Worse Than We Thought

The Lowdown on High Fructose Corn

Syrup and Agave “Nectar”

By Sally Fallon Morell and Rami Nagel

igh fructose corn syrup (HFCS) entered the market

place in the early 1970s and within twenty years,
Haccounted for over half the refined sweeteners used

in the U.S. food supply. Produced mainly by the two food
processing giants, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, it is

the main sweetener in soft drinks and is increasingly replac-
ing sugar in baked goods, bread, cereals, canned fruits, jams

and jellies, dairy desserts and flavored yoghurts. Sweeter
and less expensive than sugar, HFCS represents the major

change in the American diet over the last forty years.
Although the food industry made this change very quietly,

consumers are beginning to ask a lot of loud questions about
the new sweetener as research accumulates to indicate that

it is much worse for us than we thought.
Although the corn industry claims that HFCS received GRAS (Generally
Recognized as Safe) status when it filed for it in 1983, the FDA did not grant
GRAS status until 1996 after considerable pressure from the industry, which
was becoming nervous with the publication of negative research findings
described in the first anti-HFCS articles. 1
44 Wise Traditions SPRING 2009