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Sugar Is Back on Food Labels, This Time as a Selling Point
By KIM SEVERSON Published: March 20, 2009Sugar, the nutritional pariah that dentists and dietitians have long reviled, is enjoying a second act, dressed up as a natural, healthful ingredient.
From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar.
ConAgra uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Kraft Foods recently removed the corn sweetener from its salad dressings, and is working on its Lunchables line of portable meals and snacks.
The turnaround comes after three decades during which high-fructose corn syrup had been gaining on sugar in the American diet. Consumption of the two finally drew even in 2003, according to the Department of Agriculture. Recently, though, the trend has reversed. Per capita, American adults ate about 44 pounds of sugar in 2007, compared with about 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup.
We still must control the amount of sugar in our diets, but removing high fructose corn syrup is a good start. I started avoiding high fructose corn syrup years ago. I have lost weight and no longer take blood pressure medication.
If you think that you do not eat high fructose corn syrup, go read the labels of any processed food in your pantry.
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RoryKearney
Voorhees, New Jersey, United States
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 07:18 on March 21st, 2009
I actually prefer to just eat the real version of things like sugar and butter, I think it's better for your body overall.
at 08:12 on March 21st, 2009
Moderation is the key word here.
Sugar is healthy and needed in moderation just as salt, copper, and many other things...
at 21:08 on March 21st, 2009
Well, all I can say is I hope Vernor's Ginger Ale switches back to sugar too, because the corn syrup version sure doesn't taste like it use to when I was a kid.