Sneaky relationship with Honey and High Fructose Corn Syrup

So, a bunch of us moms were talking about, of all things, honey. I had done research telling me there was a relationship between honey and High Fructose Corn Syrup0 and that some honey contained (HFCS). But when I would look on the back of the labels at ALDI for ingredients, it would say “To write for HONEY facts, please write: (address). Very evasive...

And Other labels were similarly vague. So, as with many of my posts, I was fasciniated to find out what is up!!

Here are some articles and info. The first one I found at http://www.thefitshack.com/2007/08/31/high-fructose-corn-syrup-and-honey-a-sneaky-relationship/

You might think that you’re eating healthier because you’ve replaced refined white table sugar with honey, but think again. I’m currently reading Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola and was amazed to learn about the process of forced honey production and its correlation with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

I have learned from Dr. Mercola’s book is that there are bee farms that produce 2/3 of the annual honey production in North America by force feeding their bees high fructose corn syrup or other sugars, and keeping them under 24-hour hive lighting so that they will produce honey year round (the remaining 1/3 of honey produced in N.A. is pure honey). These tactics result in the bees producing a product that is only partially real honey; the other portion of the “honey” is high fructose corn syrup!

I am just astounded to learn this. When you buy what you think is honey in the cute little containers in the store, you do not see high fructose corn syrup listed on the label (if you have seen it, please leave a comment as I’ve never come across it). This is very sneaky; you think you’re buying honey, when in actuality, you’re purchasing a combination of some honey and HFCS! It’s just amazing to me, especially since I grew up seeing my dad harvest honey from his own hives. I watched him do that and then jar the pure honey and honeycomb. As a kid, I didn’t appreciate it, but thinking back, I sure do now!

So how do you know if you’re buying honey that contains HFCS if it’s not even listed on the label? Well, unless it states that it is raw, natural, 100% certified organic honey, then you’ve got HFCS in that bottle sitting in your cupboard. This quality of honey is also referred to as “baker’s honey”, so you guessed it: any food product you buy that contains honey as an ingredient also contains high fructose corn syrup (again, unless it states it is raw, natural, pure organic honey).

You can also tell if you have pure, raw honey by whether it burns at 140 degrees. If it burns, it’s not real honey. Of course, the force-produced honey is cheaper than raw honey, but if you are like many people who want to avoid high fructose corn syrup, you won’t want that bottle of “honey”.

Please remember that I’m not one to recommend sugar in any form, and raw honey is another form of sugar. Even so, I think it’s important to spread the word on this topic in case you are interested in using honey as a sweetener. There are many who use honey instead of table sugar, thinking that it’s better for them. How many of these people know that they are ingesting HFCS, an ingredient that stops your brain from getting the signal that you’re not full (when you really are!) because your body doesn’t “see” the fructose.

If you do not have a problem with sugar addiction and want to use raw honey as a sweetener, just look for “100% certified raw organic honey” on the label. It will cost a few dollars more, but you are also getting the benefit that it is harvested without using potentially toxic chemicals, chemicals that are widely used in conventional beekeeping today (my dad didn’t use any chemicals).

****************** ALSO**************** Here is a Wikipedia definition:

Honey

Honey is a mixture of different types of sugars, water, and small amounts of other compounds. Honey typically has a fructose/glucose ratio similar to HFCS 55, as well as containing some sucrose and other sugars. Like HFCS, honey contains water and has approximately 3 kcal per gram. Because of its similar sugar profile and its lower price, HFCS has been used illegally to “stretch” honey. As a result, checks for adulteration no longer test for sugar but instead test for minute quantities of proteins that can be used to differentiate between HFCS and honey.

Here are more links:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826110118.htm

HERE IS A SCARY ONE:

http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/honey.html

Doesn’t it just make you MAD when you try to make decisions to make your family healthy, and companies take short cuts that will undermine your conscious health related decisions? This happens for so many different food avenues – whole grain products, canned foods (many tomato products, for example, contain HFCS), sweetners, …it REALLY does make sense to not only educate yourself, but to also try to be sefl sufficient in as much as you can! I have heard about the “Sweet Deceptions” book the first article talks about many times in many different circles…I know what MY next AMAZON purchase will be!