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Comment by jules | Hacker News Reader

Which products contain corn syrup? I didn't know that it existed until now, but I can't think of anything I eat that could contain corn syrup.

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That's the rub. It doesn't occur to most Americans how many products contain corn syrup. Wander through any conventional supermarket in America. Study the ingredients list for whatever product you have in your hand. The list of ingredients is printed in a small, sans-serif font below or next to the nutrition chart.

Notice the corn syrup in condiments: ketchup, salad dressing, peanut butter, jam, some pickles and mustards, etc. Notice the corn syrup in yogurts, ice creams, and frozen desserts. Notice the corn syrup in fruit drinks and flavored milk drinks. Notice the corn syrup in breakfast cereals and brand-name hearty-looking breads. Notice the corn syrup in brand-name cookies and crackers (Ritz, Wheat Thins, IIRC). Notice the corn syrup in canned pie fillings. Notice the corn syrup spaghetti sauces. Notice the corn syrup in canned soups.

Any food not located at a far outside aisle is likely to contain corn syrup. If a food has a brand name and it comes in a bottle, jar, tub, or box, it probably contains corn syrup. If a food comes in a can and it's not plain vegetables, it probably contains corn syrup.

I kind of exaggerate here, but not much. I notice that factory producers have been eliminating corn syrup from some foods in the past year or two. So, you might see "cane juice" or sugar in the ingredients list, instead of corn syrup. Cane juice is the new euphemism for sugar.

One of my Russian-American friends said about ten years ago, "I khate American food. Too sweet." It's "too sweet" because so many products contain sweeteners. If you're accustomed to American food, you probably don't notice the sweetness. Therefore, it wouldn't occur to you that it contains corn syrup (or sugar).

Well, there are two types of corn syrup - plain old "corn syrup" ala Karo, and high fructose corn syrup, which is a very common sweetener in processed foods.

(HFCS is also, for some reason, a bit of a nutritional boogeyman for a lot of people. There's no actual evidence that consuming X calories of it is any worse for people than consuming X calories of sugar or honey, but it's the new "dioxin" in some circles.)

If not, then why do nutritionists, athletes, diabetics, and bodybuilders favor sugar instead of HFCS?

Vlad, that's an un-sourced argument from authority. (And particularly unconvincing authorities, in the case of athletes and body-builders, who have been known to jump on a lot of wild and often harmful nutritional fads.)

That was the point--your arguments are unsourced. :)

You can't source an absence of evidence.

Please source your argument, that I am not allowed to appeal to authority or make bold claims without evidence, but you are. :)

Because its a marker for a junk food, but not literally the problem.

http://www.kingcorn.net/

(I haven't actually seen this yet, but the thread reminded me of the trailer)

Here's a direct link to the trailer, since the above link is a bit slow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiCRwMMh9k8

I would recommend Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. He traces corn from the farm to its varied outputs.

Anything that could be sweetened. It's just a replacement for sugar that used in the US because it's cheaper.

> Which products contain corn syrup?

Every packaged food in the US comes with an ingredient label.

More than likely up until lately you thought only hippies would be interested in knowing what's in their food.

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