Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Oreo turns 100 but you won't.

The Oreo Cookie turns 100 today. How many Oreo Cookies do you think you have eaten in your life. I probably haven't had as many as the average because my parents hardly ever bought them and I have only bought them a few times myself. I prefer chocolate chip cookies. But not that that's any better for me. Lately I have been making a homemade healthier chocolate chip cookie that my friends son seems to be totally in love with. He won't eat much but loves those cookies.

So many of us are COOKIE MONSTERS because our mom's gave us cookies when we were kids to make us happy or quiet depending on what was going on. I wonder how many less cookies kids would have eaten if these moms knew what was in those harmless looking little tasty cookies. So I wondered since the Oreo Cookie turns 100 today what is in these things. The Oreo Cookie may be 100 years old but I bet that eating them won't get you to 100 years old.

I looked up the nutritional facts from the Nabisco site and noticed that one of the Ingredients listed was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. This is one of the Ingredients that needs to change in baked goods because it causes so much damage to us and is a contributor to obesity in kids and adults.
I also looked up the definition of High Fructose corn syrup on Wikipedia. Have a look at what this stuff is and then decide if you want to chomp down on a package of Oreo Cookies. Be informed and take charge of what you are putting into your body. Kids shouldn't grow up fat they should have the best health they can possibly have to give them the best chances for a happy life.


High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—also called glucose-fructose syrup[1][2] in the UK, glucose/fructose[3] in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries—comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, consumer foods and products typically use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It has become very common in processed foods and beverages in the U.S., including breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.[4]
According to the USDA, HFCS consists of 24% water, and the rest sugars. The most widely used varieties of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 42% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in beverages, processed foods, cereals and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 53% glucose.[5][6] HFCS-90, approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose, is used in small quantities for specialty applications, but primarily is used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55.[7]
In the U.S., HFCS is among the sweeteners that have primarily replaced sucrose (table sugar) in the food industry. Factors for this include governmental production quotas of domestic sugar, subsidies of U.S. corn, and an import tariff on foreign sugar; all of which combine to raise the price of sucrose to levels above those of the rest of the world, making HFCS less costly for many sweetener applications. Critics of the extensive use of HFCS in food sweetening argue that the highly processed substance is more harmful to humans than regular sugar, contributing to weight gain by affecting normal appetite functions[8] , and that in some foods HFCS may be a source of mercury, a known neurotoxin.[9][10] The Corn Refiners Association disputes these claims and maintains that HFCS is comparable to table sugar.[11] Studies by the American Medical Association suggest "it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose", but welcome further independent research on the subject.[12] Further reviews in the clinical literature have disputed the links between HFCS and obesity,[13] diabetes,[14] and metabolic syndrome,[13] and concluded that HFCS is no different from any other sugar in relationship to these diseases.[dubious – discuss] HFCS has been classified generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 1976.[15]
However, consumers in the United States no longer have access to accurate ingredient labels that establish the presence of High Fructose Corn Syrup in food products. Manufacturers are permitted to label High Fructose Corn Syrup, as "Corn Syrup" in the ingredient listing of the product packaging. [16]

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