Playing games with our food again? or still?

The simple sugar fructose has become quite an item in nutrition.  Back in the 1980s when I collaborated with a biochemist to make computer models of metabolic pathways we used to chuckle about the myths then about the virtues of fructose as  sweetener.  We also were the first in our medical school to introduce nutrition into our lectures in the gastrointestinal (GI) series.  He did the biochem and I did the physiology.

We chuckled because the myth that fructose was a healthier sweetener than ordinary sugar was not quite as true as health food buffs would like to believe.  The trick is that there is a pathway that sends the fructose into synthesis of triglyceride in the liver and that's not so great.  

Much time has passed and the issue is only more of a problem today.  The widespread use of high fructose corn syrup has generated a lot of controversy.  Now steps have been taken to solve the potential problems.  They renamed the stuff!  Here's a sample of how things get manipulated:  Corporations Have Renamed ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’ 

Big Food is at it again, hiding ingredients they know we really don’t want to consume in their products. This time it’s the presence of a new version of high fructose corn syrup. But this is not the innocuous fructose that has sweetened the fruits humans have eaten since time began. This is a questionable ingredient with many names that could be causing all sorts of health problems.
The product is General Mills’ Vanilla Chex, an updated version of the Chex cereal sold in most conventional grocery and discount stores for many years. The front of the box clearly states that the product contains “no high fructose corn syrup” (HFCS), but turn it over to read the ingredient list and there it is – the new isolated fructose.
Why is that a problem? According to the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), there’s been a sneaky name change. The term ‘fructose’ is now being used to denote a product that was previously known as HFCS-90, meaning it is 90 percent pure fructose. Compare this to what is termed ‘regular’ HFCS, which contains either 42 or 55 percent fructose, and you will know why General Mills is so eager to keep you in the dark.
CRA explains:
 “A third product, HFCS-90, is sometimes used in natural and ‘light’ foods, where very little is needed to provide sweetness. Syrups with 90% fructose will not state high fructose corn syrup on the label [anymore], they will state ‘fructose’ or ‘fructose syrup’.”
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a food ingredient that has become widely used as a cheaper replacement for natural sugar during the past 40 years. That 40 year time span has also seen skyrocketing incidence of obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases. While as yet it has not been established that HFCS is the direct culprit, the circumstantial evidence is hard to overlook.