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Sept 12, 2010
While I scrounged for something useful to share with my readers, (e.g. the most recent attempt of a pastor to burn the Qu’ran), a commercial with a preppy lady in the midst of a corn field popped up as it interfered a scene of “Criminal Minds”, one of the few shows I still watch on TV. The nice lady said that sugar is sugar, that cane sugar and corn sugar is still sugar, and that the body does not know the difference. Then, right below the screen was a URL address, www.cornsugar.com/
My son has been diagnosed as hypersensitive to a wide array of food. There are more things he cannot eat than those which he can. Since most physicians tend to address the symptoms and not the cause, it took us more than fifteen years, a lot of tests, various tours of Doctor’s offices to realize and diagnose that his ailment is not caused by any virus, but mostly by additives embedded in so many things that enter our mouth.
Gluten, artificial dyes, sulfites and high fructose corn syrup, to name a few, are some of the food elements that cause him to have chronic nose bleeding, migraine, lethargy, depression and a lack of concentration. BHT, a compound found in jet fuels, rubber products and embalming fluid is also found in some of those favorite cereals served as breakfast in many of our homes. Yes, although we consume it at a very small dose, we do consume it.
From the latter part of his Middle School years, all throughout his High School, and now in College, we have no other choice but to browse on books, visit organic stores, read the labels of every condiment, and hope that we do not discover another organic substance that could prove toxic to his system.
Since there are so many of these elements that are not equally detrimental to most human consumers, I would focus on High Fructose Corn syrup, the one that stole a scene from our favorite TV show. High Fructose corn syrup does indeed contain sugar derived from corn starch. Corn is good. Starch is good. And sugar is necessary. As it is, it is not bad. However, the excesses of high fructose corn syrup in so many of our household victuals, the pervasion of this organic compound, now produced through genetically modified crops, is what causes havoc not only among those with a more sensitive system, but even among those who are not.
Since manufacturing processes started using this compound in the 80’s, obesity in America rose steadily until it earned a pandemic status. Obesity is now considered a disease. High fructose corn syrup, alleged as a main culprit, is oftentimes blamed for this malady. And from it, diabetes, hypertension, failed kidneys and livers, cardiovascular problems, and a litany of other ailment zoomed with the increasing curb.
High fructose corn syrup and other additives, find their way in our pantry precisely because they are in our pantry. The sole function of an additive is to add shelf life to food. Food with long shelf life could travel longer, last longer and sell longer. Additives also add taste, a quick surrogate to home-made cooking. Behind a long lasting food packed in boxes or vacuum bags is a Corporate America hungry for a bottom line profit. Behind Corporate America are chains of businesses with head honchos roaming around the corridors of Washington, brandishing a green buck, so that policies could warrantee the survival of their enterprise. On the other portion of the equation are shoppers who demand the lowest price for the highest quantity. And then the professional labor unions who demand the best pay with the least work possible.
Between the push and pull, the tag and switch, the casualties of the free market system are those who carelessly consume whatever is offered to their shopping cart. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) spends millions of tax payer money to regulate the food we take by obliging manufacturers to adequately label every morsel of food they pack in cans, bottles or boxes. Yet, most of the time, when we look at the things we buy, we only look at one thing – the price. So we get what we pay for. Eating more is not always a sign of abundance. In America, it is good business.
Sugar is not always sugar. It is not always sweet. It is not sweet when it comes to us in various forms dressed only to fatten our bellies or pacify our hunger. Sugar from sugar cane or from beets, are only good, when taken in moderation, just like anything else, even corn syrup. When the opposite takes place and moderation becomes an excess, the lack of symmetry in consumption converts into an unbalanced symmetry in our physique. The vicious cycle never stops. The merry go round becomes a number in a hospital bed.
In response to all these, there are current movements that seek to restore the natural elements of food packaging, promote local farming so as to minimize the unscrupulous practices of certain corporations, and disseminate proper education to inform the consumer on what is really food from that which looks like food.
It took us this long to awaken to the fact that food was primarily designed for nutrition and not for mere consumption; that we eat not because it is a social tool to gather people, but because we need to replenish our energy to be totally functional; and that we raise food, crops and farm animals to help feed the nation and not to fill corporate coffers.
Our son has improved a thousand fold ever since we assumed responsibility for what we ate. In the process, we have discovered the best restaurants for dinner, found specialized groceries for specialized food, and met the smartest Physicians who believe that there is more than just prescribing medicine to keep a patient healthy.
The statement of the commercial implying that the body does not know the difference between different types of sugar is not accurate. Yes it does. It is common knowledge that our body will respond to what is sufficient, what is right, and what is adequate. Sugar is not always sweet. When taken in excess, it could be deadly.