Added sugars, processed food can't exist without

Critique of an article written by John S. White, White Technical Research in Food Processing Magazine 3/10

It shouldn't be surprising that Food Processing Magazine, a magazine focused on food manufacturers and processors, published an article touting that high-fructose corn syrup and other added sugars are not the primary cause of obesity.

I agree with the author, eating too many calories and not getting enough exercise is causing the alarming rates of obesity across America. That said, I am trying to avoid or severely limit my intake of high-fructose corn syrup and other 'added sugars' both because of calories but also - and perhaps more importantly - because I don't know the impact of these chemical sweetners on my body.

The process that brings about high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is described as a 'corn wet milling process'. I don't know what that is but I do know, HFCS is different from just being corn syrup because of a chemical reaction that takes place. Making HFCS changes corn syrup molecularly. That's not natural, that's what I worry about (see previous post on HFCS).

The fact that other 'added sugars' such as sucrose (table sugar), fruit juice concentrate, honey, agave nectar are put through a similar 'milling process' to refine the raw botanical material into a 'robust and versatile sweetener that can be formulated into a wide range of foods and beverages' doesn't calm my nerves.

High-intensity sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose and stevia provide the same sweetness intensity at extremely smaller proportions (hundreths to thousandths will do the trick compared to 'added sugars'). These high-intensity sweeteners do little else but sweeten.

What else can you demand of a sweetner? It turns out that added sugars, the author John White adds, "support yeast fermentations, structure and texture building, surface browning and aroma development, flavor enhancement, sweet-acid balance, unpleasant flavor masking, freezing point control, microbial stability, minimize freeze-thaw damage, extended product shelf life and provide additional valuable, under-appreciated product contributions."

I never thought of recipe creation as delivering such objectives as 'flavor masking' and 'microbial stability', but okay I understand that to manufacture food that sits on a shelf or in a freezer for some period of time you need to be concerned with these objectives.

Up til now, I scrupulously avoided HFCS cheerfully accepting sucrose, honey and fruit juice concentrate in the food I eat. Now I'm questioning any use of 'added sugars'. I'm told that by this article that the American Medical Assn., the American Dietetic Assn., and other expert scientists say there is little difference in composition, calories and metabolism between 'added sugars.' Since I don't like the process that creates HFCS, I question what's being done to more natural sounding sugars. It's the process I fear and how 'refining the raw botanical material into a robust and versatile sweetener' mixes things up making something that sounds natural, unnatural.