Powerbars response to using High Fructose Corn Syrup

Well rice syrup obviously holds it together too,right?

Typical corporate response...Most sport bar products out there suck as far as nutritional profiles go. One good option are Hammer Bars.

http://www.trisports.com/hammerbar.html

They are not in it to make you healthy. They are in it to make money while you think you are being made healthy or you think your performance is enhanced. However they can do that, they will.

Has HFCS always been in powerbars or only since they were sold?

HFCS is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Or am I wrong?

it's just sugar. i'm not exactly sure what the big crusade against powerbars on here is all about. it's not great for you but, after a workout, you're going to need a few simple sugars. i wouldn't be eating them all day long, though. if people have a problem with it, they just should eat another product. seems pretty simple, really.

MarathonMind wrote:

HFCS is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Or am I wrong?

HFCS is insulin independent and wreaks havoc on the system.

Chuck- Is it really that simple? If you look at the Power Bar website and there marketing they are all about performance and nutrition and use respected sponsered athletes and races to push there products. You don't see the problem if all that is a masquerade for for dumping more HFC into our systems?

If HFC is as bad as some nutritionists say, what Power Bar is promoting isn't much better than Cigarette Companies Promoted years ago fooling the public. You tell me?

From an article at the American Chemical Society web page:

"Some of the health concerns about the effect of HFCS on health have to do with the fructose component of the sweetener. HFCS contains either 42% or 55% fructose (designated 42-HFCS and 55-HFCS, respectively) combined with 42−52% glucose and a few percent of higher saccharides. Although glucose increases insulin release from the pancreas, fructose does not. Because insulin helps to control sugar consumption by signaling the brain to indicate a sense of satiety, fructose’s lack of a triggering mechanism for insulin may lead to increased calorie consumption, according to Bray and others. Also, fructose appears to convert to fat more readily than glucose because of the ease with which the carbon skeleton of fructose can form the backbone for precursors of long-chain fatty acids. (It should be pointed out that sucrose–table sugar–when digested, yields a 50:50 proportion of glucose and fructose, a mix similar to HFCS, and the intake of too much sucrose may pose the same issues raised about HFCS.) Researchers agree that more study is needed on the effects of HFCS and sucrose, particularly large quantities of these added sweeteners in the diet, to clarify current questions."

Bingo. It is really not that bad. It's just sugar with a slightly higher proportion of fructose.

Problem is processed foods use way too much of it.

Big dude wrote:

MarathonMind wrote:

HFCS is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Or am I wrong?

HFCS is insulin independent and wreaks havoc on the system.

What sugar is not?

luv2run wrote:

Big dude wrote:

HFCS is insulin independent and wreaks havoc on the system.

What sugar is not?

My bad, I misread that.

You are dumb as the day is long if you believe this prop. from and industry advocacy group...

I mean REALLY F*#KIN stupid

MD/PHD or not.

I am confused about some of the HFCS research. I always learned that fructose in fruit was a better form of simple sugar than sucrose precisely because of it was less glycemic. Is the fructose in High Fructose Corn Syrup different from the fructose in an orange?

alpha wrote:

You are dumb as the day is long if you believe this prop. from and industry advocacy group...

I mean REALLY F*#KIN stupid

MD/PHD or not.

Please, dear Sir/Mm alpha. Enlighten me.

Oh one more thing, the reason it is the darling of the processed food industry is that it is so cheap. Much cheaper than real sugar. And people really like to eat it so it pays to put it in everything.

I say avoid it whenever you can. But it is basically just sugar.

bulldog35 wrote:

Chuck- Is it really that simple? If you look at the Power Bar website and there marketing they are all about performance and nutrition and use respected sponsered athletes and races to push there products. You don't see the problem if all that is a masquerade for for dumping more HFC into our systems?

If HFC is as bad as some nutritionists say, what Power Bar is promoting isn't much better than Cigarette Companies Promoted years ago fooling the public. You tell me?

christ. HFCS isn't cigarettes.

if you believe marketing, then you're getting what you deserve. be an informed consumer.

from the little i have read what concerns many advocates about the huge increase in use of HFC is the agricultural impact it is having within the US agro industry.

anyone with more knowledge in that area have input????

Fructose is the simplest sugar- non reducing (a ketose).

http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnnet/cfb/carbohydrates.htm

Why not skip the bars, which have limited nutritional value, and go with pure honey? It's a natural, unrefined sugar, contains some trace minerals as well as bee pollen (if unfiltered). While it may offer less vitamins than the bars it achieves the same aim at a lower cost per unit of carbohydrate and less processing.