TV ads try to sweeten public opinion on high fructose corn syrup

You've got to love American advertising: it's utterly shameless. We're so used to having a constant Niagra Falls of sales messages flowing over us that we're no longer shocked at what's being hawked. Now a big industry that's as insidious as Big Pharma and Big Tobacco is pinning its hopes on a TV advertising campaign to put a friendly face on their horrible product. This time, it's Big Corn: the makers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

HFCS is the nearly inescapable junk food that's a major ingredient in a dizzying array of America's foods. There's loads of HFCS in nearly everything kids (and many adults) eat and drink – soda, "fruit" drinks, cookies, gum, jelly, and baked goods. And that's only a partial list. In fact, the national consumption of this hidden junk food grew from zero in 1966 to 62.6 pounds per person by 2001. Imagine what it is today!

The new TV commercials are "designed to correct the record" said Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), and are "not a campaign to drive consumption."

The "record" that I suppose the CRA is looking to correct are the multiple scientific studies that have linked America's obesity epidemic in adults and children with the increased consumption of HFCS. I guess the CRA doesn't want the facts to get in the way of their sweet story.

According to an Emory University study published earlier this year, upwards of 10 percent of Americans' daily caloric intake comes from fructose – including HFCS. And I'm willing to bet that a decent chunk of that 10 percent is HFCS.

Click here to see both the TV commercials for yourself.

The problem with HFCS is that it's SO common that it shows up not only in products that many people already assume to have a high sugar content, but in a wide range of products that you wouldn't think would have any sweeteners in them – like Stouffer's Stove Top Stuffings, Sara Lee Heart Healthy Whole Grain Bread, Thomas's English Muffins, Kellogg's Special K cereal, Campbell's Vegetable Soup, and more. And many of those products claim to have some health benefit!

So don't tell me that the CRA is being "fair" or "interesting" when they're trying to say that HFCS is "just like sugar" and "fine in moderation." Even when you're doing your level best to eat right, it's disturbing to know that you're still getting a fair amount of HFCS when you're having your sandwich on Sara Lee Hearth Healthy Whole Grain Bread!

If you'll recall, earlier this year the Corn Refiner's Association tried to get products with HFCS labeled as "natural," and they were smacked down by the FDA. And it takes a lot to wake the FDA from its perpetual stupor.

Oh, believe me: products containing HFSC should be labeled, all right. There should be a big, easy-to-read stamp on them that says "CONTAINS HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP."

I'm telling you now – if they did that, there wouldn't be enough TV commercials on the planet that would fix their plummeting sales. That would be a not-so-sweet surprise for these guys.