http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/in-worries-about-sweeteners-think-of-all-sugars/?ref=science
“In Worries About Sweeteners, Think of All Sugars” By Tara Parker-Pope.
Today, about 55 percent of Americans say that corn sweetener in food scares them. As a result, food makers are eliminating the corn syrup used to sweeten foods like ketchup and crackers. It is then being replaced with beet or cane sugar. The Corn Refiners Association last week suggested changing the name of the ingredient to “corn sugar.” They hoped this would help the products image. But most nutrition scientists say that consumer anxiety about the sweetener is misdirected. Only about half of the added sugar in the American diet comes from corn sources. The percentage of calories taken in by humans from sugar has increased significantly which is a major cause of obesity. High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are made up of about the same amount of glucose and fructose. The two sweeteners have the same nutritional value. The American Medical Association has said it’s “unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.” There are some differences. To make table sugar, the sugar from beets and cane essentially is squeezed out of the plants but corn syrup, is heavily processed using enzymes to turn cornstarch into glucose and then fructose. In high-fructose corn syrup, the glucose and fructose molecules are chemically separate. In table sugar, the molecules are chemically bonded, forming a disaccharide that is broken apart inside the body. Dr. Bray said that while high-fructose corn syrup isn’t any more harmful than regular sugar, the benefit of focusing on the ingredient is that it has drawn attention to too much sugar in the typical American diet resulting in the problem of obesity.
This article is really important for people to read because it explains a common worry. A bunch of people are stressing out over corn sweetener and it is nice to know the truth. Even though what people think may not be true, it is good that people are so concerned as to what they are putting in their bodies. After reading this article, people will realize that is important to pay attention to the types of things you are eating. The amount of sugar being consumed by Americans is way too high, it doesn’t matter what type of sugar it is. Corn syrup is just as bad as table sugar.
The author of this article did a very nice job explaining what was going on. It was nice how they first stated the problem and what people believed and why. Then, the science of it was explained which helped to understand the article because there was nice background information. There were so many quotes from professionals, which was great because if a professional doctor is saying it then it is very believable and convincing. The argument was presented very nicely.
Review submitted by E. Kimak
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3 comments:
This was a very well done and a very timely review/article! I liked that you chose a topic that is relevant in both science as well as politics (even though today the two seem to be Siamese twins) as people are trying to change America’s obesity epidemic. I liked the point of view that the author showed that high fructose corn syrup, though it isn’t great for the body, is no worse than common table sugar. I thought that E. Kimak was making a large, albeit true, implication that sugar is the root of American obesity. I also thought that citing the fact that there are credible sources within the article you could easily find people to oppose what those professionals were saying. For the most part however I agree with your review and am merely playing the devil’s advocate. One thing that I learned from this article was the process of making table sugar as compared to high-fructose corn syrup where one is chemically bonded and the other is chemically separate.
Connecting the corn syrup to obesity was a nice touch because it allows people to visualize what this substance does to you. Comparing the process at which sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup are made is a good way to get the real differences of the two substances across to the reader. Referring to the Corn Refinery Associations decision to switch the name to corn sugar shows how people are so worried that the name of the ingredient would have to change to calm some people down.
I don’t like how you need to state that it’s important to watch what you eat, like I stated in my last article, that an unwritten rule that only tools named The Situation don’t follow. I also don’t like how you say that this is a common worry, my common worries are many and do not include this topic such as, what if the bed wets me and what if Superman decided to kill everybody (jokes provided by Chief Wiggum).
I learned that they use beets for sugar. I know, I choose the most boring things to learn, because I’m Chase O’Neill and I’m…AWESOME!
1) Emily explained her article very thoroughly going into the facts about how the corn sweeteners affect our bodies, which I felt was a good thing because I really could understand the topic.
2) I liked how she said that people are overreacting about the harshness of the corn sugars on average provides us with about half of our daily sugar intake, so the effects aren’t as harsh on the body.
3) Also, it was very effective how she compared the difference between the sweeteners and regular table sugar.
1) If I were her I would have talked more about how Americans are overreacting about the affects the sweeteners are having on our lives and how we should cut it out of our diets completely.
2) Also, she could have gone more into depth about how the corn sugar has been affecting obesity in our country and the other health issues that are caused by the corn sugar.
1) I found the part of her reflection where she mentioned how to make table sugar by squeezing the plants for the sugar really interesting because I had no idea where my normal table sugar had been coming from all these years.
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