Corn Syrup and Artificial Sweeteners

Glucose Syrup Products are Now Being Labeled "Soluble Corn Fiber"

Oct 10, 2009

Corn syrup is being relabeled as "soluble corn fiber" in foods and artificial sweeteners, possibly to avoid consumer health concerns about high fructose corn syrup.

Tate & Lyle are the manufacturers of Splenda, an artificial sweetener that uses a combination of sucralose and various bulking agents. The new Splenda with Fiber product offered by this company uses a bulking agent called Soluble Corn Fiber, produced by another branch of Tate & Lyle, called Promitor. Up until September 2009, the Promitor website contained information on the formulation of Soluble Corn Fiber, also known as corn syrup, and the reason for the renaming of the substance. The page has since been removed, but is still available as a cached page in Google.

Dieting and Artificial Sweeteners

Dieting and artificial sweeteners have a close relationship. Many dieters turn to artificial sweeteners to reduce their sugar intake, which can help with their weight loss efforts. In addition, many who are simply trying to improve their overall health avoid sugar in its many forms, including corn syrup. Diabetics, and others who have blood-sugar problems, also tend to gravitate toward natural sugar alternatives, and artificial sweeteners, in order to help maintain stable blood sugar levels.

Corn Syrup Facts

Corn syrup is the result of processing corn to extract the sugar content. In essence, the process takes the glucose (sugar) syrup that is extracted from cornstarch, removes salt, and evaporates much of the moisture from the mix in order to end up with a thick syrupy texture.

Corn syrup is used to sweeten and improve the texture of many foods on the market today, including sodas, desserts, and snack foods. Corn syrup can also be used to make high fructose corn syrup, which has been the target of consumer alarm due to allegations of mercury contamination, increased diabetes risk, and obesity.

Corn Syrup Safety

While corn syrup has been used in commercial foods since the 1970s, and is approved by the FDA, there are many who feel that it is harmful. Consumers have begun to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup on the label while the popularity of natural sugar substitutes such as stevia has begun to rise. Soluble Corn Fiber, which is the substance used as a bulking agent in Splenda with Fiber, can also be found on food labels as corn syrup, or corn syrup solids, depending on whether it has been processed as a liquid, or evaporated further into powder form.

Bulking Agents in Splenda

Sucralose is an extremely potent sweetener, and must be diluted with another substance in order to preserve taste. Splenda with Fiber has been touted as being "healthy" due to the fact that it uses fiber as a bulking agent. This sweetener uses Soluble Corn Fiber, as opposed to regular Splenda, which uses maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is a bulking agent that has the same glycemic value as sugar, and performs like sugar within the body.

Changed Ingredient Names May Affect Health

According to Google's cached page of the Promitor website, the product name "allows for consumer-friendly ingredient declaration." Soluble Corn Fiber is, according to the Promitor website, "made using traditional corn syrup techniques." Splenda, being marketed as a non-sugar sweetener, would possibly lose market share if it were to add "corn syrup solids" to the label. Tate & Lyle have chosen instead to use another name for corn syrup: Soluble Corn Fiber. For those who avoid sugar or corn syrup for health reasons, however, the name change could lead to health issues.

For diabetics, desserts are often the cause of blood sugar spikes. With the use of natural sugar substitutes in diabetic desserts, recipes can be made less dangerous.

With a low-carb diabetic diet, it is possible to lower dependence on insulin injections, improve diabetic health, and maintain a normal blood sugar range.

A 2008 study shows that eating a low-carb diet helps to lower cholesterol naturally, and produces a 20% reduction in the ratio of total cholesterol to LDL cholesterol.

References:

The copyright of the article Corn Syrup and Artificial Sweeteners in Nutrition is owned by Victoria Nicks. Permission to republish Corn Syrup and Artificial Sweeteners in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.