LOL at this dishonest article comparing high fructose corn syrup to sugar and honey

[colorles]

High-Fructose Corn Syrup vs. Sugar: Which Is Actually Worse?

Not all sweeteners are equal. Avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague. Cut it out of your diet and you will begin to feel better with just that one change.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I wonder if I could setup a production plan for simple syrup and see if I can sell to companies instead of corn syrup.

 

[Captain X]

I'm curious why there is this mass rejection of sugar from sodas and things to begin with. I do see soda companies do like "retro formula" every once in a while with sugar and I can see that it sells pretty well. Not to mention foreign sodas that also have sugar.

 

[The Whispering Monk]

I think from the production side is the cost of corn syrup being a good bit cheaper than sugar, but I can't really find anything to support that...in my brief 10 minutes of searching.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I'm curious why there is this mass rejection of sugar from sodas and things to begin with. I do see soda companies do like "retro formula" every once in a while with sugar and I can see that it sells pretty well. Not to mention foreign sodas that also have sugar.

Mostly politics.

Iowa has massively leveraged its position as the first state to vote, and with corn being their main crop that tends to translate into endless and ever-increasing subsidies on all things made from corn, including high-fructose corn syrup.

Meanwhile, sugar is hard to grow in the US, there simply isn't a lot of suitable land, while South American countries can produce it cheaply. The sugar lobby in the US responded by pushing for massive tariffs to make sugar more expensive so their marginal farms can compete.

The combination of highly subsidized corn syrup driving its price down and heavily protected sugar driving its price up makes sugar unattractive for big companies. This is coupled with a tendency to only make corn syrup available at the corporate level and push sugar on consumers, notice how sugar's easy to find on the shelves but you'll rarely find corn syrup available in grocery stores, which in turn makes it more expensive for consumers to make their own baked or other sweetened goods that might compete with the big companies' offerings.

 

[S'task]

but you'll rarely find corn syrup available in grocery stores, which in turn makes it more expensive for consumers to make their own baked or other sweetened goods that might compete with the big companies' offerings.

That's weird, because all the grocery stores in my area have corn syrup on the shelves, usually in either the baking section right by the molasses or in the syrup section alongside the other standards for pouring over pancakes...

 

[Jormungandr]

I dunno why they just don't make sugar from beets. People have been turning more and more against HFCS for years now.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I dunno why they just don't make sugar from beets. People have been turning more and more against HFCS for years now.

Farm subsidies are designed around who has an effective voting bloc up for sale. Corn has it, beet growers don't. Heck just look at ethanol. Beets: over 700 gallons an acre. Corn: 354. We subsidize corn for fuel.

 

[Marduk]

High-Fructose Corn Syrup vs. Sugar: Which Is Actually Worse?

Not all sweeteners are equal. Avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague. Cut it out of your diet and you will begin to feel better with just that one change.

It doesn't sound that bad of a difference. Just that if you're going to be eating way too much sugar like many people do, making it fructose will make the effects even worse.

I'm curious why there is this mass rejection of sugar from sodas and things to begin with. I do see soda companies do like "retro formula" every once in a while with sugar and I can see that it sells pretty well. Not to mention foreign sodas that also have sugar.

That is just a way to go around the greater confusion around sodas in general that is to the benefit of soda sales - namely, that sodas are commonly thought of as means of hydration, an alternative to water, tea, coffee, juices even (though they can have a lot of sugar too). In reality, more or less depending on sugar content, they are de facto a snack bar in liquid form, with some hydration thrown in.
This is how some people can get a quarter or even half if living in a hot climate and\or physically active of recommended caloric intake from their attempts at hydration, which can completely throw off their intuition (and even worse, natural hormonal system) about how much they are eating, and that's a simple way towards obesity.

 

[Jormungandr]

Farm subsidies are designed around who has an effective voting bloc up for sale. Corn has it, beet growers don't. Heck just look at ethanol. Beets: over 700 gallons an acre. Corn: 354. We subsidize corn for fuel.

Makes sense.

 

[Flintsteel]

I dunno why they just don't make sugar from beets. People have been turning more and more against HFCS for years now.

Cost. Corn is subsidized to the point it can be sold for below production cost. As the adage goes, you can't compete with free.

In the US, or farm subsidy programs have so distorted costs that it's arguable we don't actually know the true cost of food anymore (note how it is often cheaper to buy canned vegetables than fresh ones, and just think about how that works...).