Sugar: a gatheration

22 April 2003
Here's a book about sugar (well, Sugar...) that I know to be truly excellent:
Mintz, Sidney Wilfred
Sweetness and power : the place of sugar in modern history
New York, N.Y. : Viking, 1985. 
GT2869 .M56 1985. 
...and a google search for 'sugar industry' points me to sugaronline.com ("an independent guide to the sugar industry with expert commentary on key sugar issues, breaking news stories and sugar market prices as well as technical articles on sugar processing, interactive discussion forums and extensive archives")

The text of the FAO/WHO report is available, and so is the document U.S. Comments On.... A comment from World Association of Beet and Cane Growers:

One would have expected that an authoritative body like the WHO would give positive advice on what constitutes a balanced human diet, and how this can be achieved through various combinations of foods, appropriate to specific situations of different populations. Instead, much of the draft report reads like an attack on animal fats and sugar, recommending that these ‘undesirable’ substances be identified in labelling, controlled in advertising, and made subject to additional taxation. This sounds very much like the approach being used to control tobacco consumption.

The Executive Director of the WHO, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, was very clear in her address to the 55th World Health Assembly in May 2002. She said:

“High blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, strongly linked to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, are also closely related to excessive consumption of fatty, sugary and salty foods. They become even more dangerous when combined with the deadly forces of tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption.”

Remembering Belle Glade FL and an article in the New Yorker, I did a google search. Found IN THE KINGDOM OF BIG SUGAR by Marie Brenner, which mentions "Alec Wilkinson in Big Sugar, which first ran as a series of articles in The New Yorker in 1989...", published as a book: HD8039.S86 U67 1989

25 April
Farmers' sweet deal makes for fat Americans (tip-of-iceberg on hi-fructose corn syrup, something I need to dig into further)

The problem is trade barriers. The federal government sets the price of American sugar at about three times the price on the world market. This system is designed to protect the jobs of farmers in America. But it seems to be destroying the jobs of a lot of other Americans, such as those who work in the production of those candies that require sugar.

About 600 workers at the Life Saver factory in Holland, Mich., were laid off the other day because of the high price of sugar. The candy makers moved the jobs to Canada to take advantage of free- market sugar prices.

Too bad those workers didn't have the clout in Congress that Archer-Daniels Midland has. That agribusiness giant lobbies to keep sugar prices high so it can sell lots of corn syrup. Then, of course, there are the sugar-cane producers in the South and the sugar-beet producers on the Great Plains. They also lobby their congressmen to keep you from being able to buy sugar at the market price.

"Besides costing our consumers almost $2 billion a year in higher sugar prices and chasing away U.S. industries that use sugar, it undermines our leadership in global trade negotiations," says Griswold. "We're always telling poor countries they should open up their economies, but we keep ours closed."

High Fructose Corn Syrup And Mexico

Mexico - Anti-Dumping Investigation of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from the United States (December 2001) --see also Current developments - Decisions of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization

And who are the principal manufacturers of HFCS? Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Staley, American Maize Products

U.S. Wins WTO Case on High Fructose Corn Syrup (US State Dept, June 2001)

google search

REPRESENTATIVES URGE MEXICAN AMBASSADOR TO ACT ON SWEETENER DISPUTE SETTLEMENT

March 14, 2003

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and the Corn Refiners Association, Inc. (CRA) applaud the efforts of House leaders seeking action from Mexican Ambassador to the United States Juan Jose Bremer toward a negotiated solution to the ongoing sweetener dispute between Mexico and the United States. Expressing frustration with the prolonged negotiations, 31 Representatives sent a letter today to the Ambassador urging immediate action to quickly strike a meaningful deal and successfully conclude the talks.

"The corn industry has been held hostage for over a year in search of a resolution to this dispute. Corn growers stand ready to reach an agreement and resume a normal trading relationship with Mexico. This is the right thing to do and we should not delay any longer," said Fred Yoder, President, NCGA.

"The potential 1.5 million metric ton market for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in Mexico was an excellent incentive for corn refiners to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the promise of NAFTA and its market opening trade-expanding prospects. Unfortunately, this market remains elusive and as a result of Mexico's protectionist actions, our industry has idled capacity, lost jobs, and experienced significant losses in profitability," said CRA President Audrae Erickson. "The longer it takes to reach a settlement, the more the corn industry suffers. We appreciate the Congressional support to bring the negotiations to an end and re-open this important market."

U.S. exports of HFCS to Mexico have been shut down for 15 months. No other major U.S. agricultural or non-agricultural exporting industry has had its top export market closed for this period of time. Sweetener consuming industries have been harmed due to a loss of price competition in the marketplace. For every 300,000 metric tons of HFCS access into Mexico, U.S. corn producers have lost market opportunities for more than 20 million bushels of corn from 142,000 acres annually.

US Embassy in Mexico on trade and on NAFTA

Corn News: Coke to give China the real thing: Corn syrup in signature soft drink

Hong Kong-listed Global Bio-chem Technology Group said it and its US joint-venture partner and commodity provider Cargill recently signed contracts to supply high-fructose corn syrup to beverage bottling plants and food companies in northeastern and eastern China Coca-Cola has more than 20 bottling plants in China, according to analysts Starting out as a producer of corn starch, the company has diversified into corn-based bio-chemical products such as lysine, high-fructose corn syrup, modified starch and glutamic acid --South China Morning Post -- 03/08/03, p 2

Sugar and Sweetener Yearbook Tables lotsa data... and links to 'Recommended Readings' --viz Central American Sugar Industry

Negros Revised: The impact of sugar substitution by HFCS in perspective By Robin Pistorius Biotechnology and Development Monitor, No. 21, p. 14-15 (1994)

Substitution of sugar from the Philippines by High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in the USA has become one of the most well known examples of the negative social and economic impact of biotechnology. In many publications, substitution by HFCS has been considered as the primary cause of the 1983­84 sugar crisis in Negros, the 'sugar bowl' of the Philippines. This article deals with the deeper causes of the crisis, and looks at the prospects of the island's sugar industry.

THE MEXICAN SUGAR INDUSTRY; PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS in World Bank - Country Economics Department from World Bank - Country Economics Department B. Borrell , 1991

Mexican Sugar and Trade

World Sugar History Newsletter (and see its archive)

26 April
Ron forwarded this:

WHO diet guidelines devoid of science Steven Milloy National Post ("Steven Milloy is the publisher of JunkScience.com and an adjunct scholar at the Washington-based Cato Institute.") --take a look at Amazon listing for Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment by Thomas R. Degregori

1 February 2004
More on High-Fructose Corn Syrup:

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP from Oregon State Food Resource

GE Osmonics

Osmonics® was the first company to develop equipment for the maple syrup industry to save energy and expense by using spiral-wound systems to concentrate the maple sap into a more concentrated solution. The same technology can be applied to the high fructose corn syrup market. The cost savings by being able to concentrate a sweetener with membranes compared to evaporation can be enough to pay for the equipment in as little as a year.

Corn Refiners Association and The Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) ("The Corn Syrup Industry's White Paper")

American Sugar Alliance ("a national coalition of cane, beet and corn farmers, processors, suppliers, workers and others dedicated to preserving a strong domestic sweetener industry")

The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup Linda Joyce Forristal

High Fructose Corn Syrup and Soft Drinks from the National Soft Drinks AssociationAlthough there have been studies in the media attempting to link HFCS with obesity, there is no scientific justification for this association. Obesity is caused by an imbalance in energy intake and energy output. Thus, too many calories and not enough exercise are the primary factors contributing to obesity. No one sweetener or single food can be blamed for causing this disease.

The key to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to exercise or be physically active at least 30 minutes daily and to consume a variety of foods and beverages in moderation. All food and beverages, including soft drinks, fit in a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Mexico - Anti-Dumping Investigation of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from the United States (Decisions of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization)

Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome Elliott SS, Keim NL, Stern JS, Teff K, Havel PJ. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Nov;76(5):911-22.

This review explores whether fructose consumption might be a contributing factor to the development of obesity and the accompanying metabolic abnormalities observed in the insulin resistance syndrome. The per capita disappearance data for fructose from the combined consumption of sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup have increased by 26%, from 64 g/d in 1970 to 81 g/d in 1997. Both plasma insulin and leptin act in the central nervous system in the long-term regulation of energy homeostasis. Because fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells, the consumption of foods and beverages containing fructose produces smaller postprandial insulin excursions than does consumption of glucose-containing carbohydrate. Because leptin production is regulated by insulin responses to meals, fructose consumption also reduces circulating leptin concentrations. The combined effects of lowered circulating leptin and insulin in individuals who consume diets that are high in dietary fructose could therefore increase the likelihood of weight gain and its associated metabolic sequelae. In addition, fructose, compared with glucose, is preferentially metabolized to lipid in the liver. Fructose consumption induces insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriacylglycerolemia, and hypertension in animal models. The data in humans are less clear. Although there are existing data on the metabolic and endocrine effects of dietary fructose that suggest that increased consumption of fructose may be detrimental in terms of body weight and adiposity and the metabolic indexes associated with the insulin resistance syndrome, much more research is needed to fully understand the metabolic effect of dietary fructose in humans.

US Consumption of Sugar and High-Fructose Corn Syrup, 1975-2001 (pdf bar chart) and US Refined Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Production (graph)

from The Profit Zone : How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Adrian Slywotzky (Author), David J. Morrison (Author), Bob Andelman (Author) [2002]

Entering the highest ranks of Coca-Cola officers in the 1970s, Goizueta looked for ways of altering Coke's relationship with its bottlers. He saw that, under the perpetual contracts, the bottlers held all the cards --fixed costs for syrup and weak incentives for participating in Coca-Cola's corporate strategy. When the company labs developed high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a low-cost substitute for the sugar in Coke, Goizueta championed it as a way to save costs and to reduce the company's dependence on fluctuating sugar prices. It was also a tool for fundamentally altering the power relationship between the company and its bottlers. The cost of the syrup was a large part of the bottlers' overall system economics, and Goizueta recognized that he could use the 20 percent price saving on HFCS as a bargaining chip in his negotiations with the bottlers... (155)

A Corn-Fed Farm Policy June 2, 2002 By Greg Critser

Today's farm-bill subsidies –– $190 billion for all crops over 10 years –– will give us more of the same: more cheap corn, more HFCS, all underwritten by urban taxpayers. But before we celebrate, a question: Do we really want all that cheap sweetener? Let's look at what it's done. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were among the first to see the future. In the 1980s, the companies, wanting out from under long-standing import tariffs that kept the price of sugar high, reformulated their drinks, shifting them from 25% HFCS and 75% cane sugar to 100% HFCS. The cost savings were immediate and enormous –– more than 20% –– causing Coke's president of the period, Roberto Goizueta, to claim the reformulation as one of his principal executive victories.

The inexpensive sweetener had another effect on the soft-drink industry as well: bigger servings. As soda became cheaper to manufacture, its purveyors didn't charge us less: They simply gave us more. With HFCS, the Big Gulp was both possible and profitable.

If plentiful corn syrup revolutionized the soft-drink industry, so it also revolutionized the snack-food market, pushing food product development in the direction of cheap snacks and bakery products. Not only was the sweetener cheap, but its unique molecular structure, as its principal manufacturer, the A.E. Staley Co., points out, allows convenience foods to last longer on the shelf, imbues them with a tantalizing brown color when baked and confers a "highly desirable mouth-feel" that regular sugar lacks. It was –– and is –– a perfect industrial food.

The number and variety of high-calorie snack foods have consequently soared. Where all through the 1960s and 1970s the number of new candy and snack products each year remained stable –– at about 250 –– it jumped to about 1,000 by the mid-1980s and to about 2,000 by the late 1980s. The rate of new, high-calorie bakery foods also jumped substantially. A revealing graphic of this trend, charted against the rise in obesity rates, was published by a group of nutrition scholars from Tufts University in 1999; the two lines rise in remarkable tandem.

But the "cornification" of our diet has come with a price. Corn overproduction has become a major poison in trade politics. Ever since Mexican authorities complained in 1998 that U.S. firms were dumping corn syrup there and decimating that nation's indigenous sugar industry, there has been tension between the two countries over corn. There is currently a low-level trade war over the issue, with Mexico having recently slapped a hefty tax on soft drinks sweetened with anything other than cane sugar, and the U.S. having erected its own barriers.

For their part, the Europeans have still not forgiven our corn industry for its widespread use of genetically modified varieties, one result of which is a de facto boycott of U.S. corn products on the Continent and the loss of $800 million in exports. They are even angrier about the new subsidies, which just skirt World Trade Organization limits on price supports.

Still, commodities being the life blood of trade relationships, one might be inclined to live with such frictions were it not for the growing scientific concern about the impact of HFCS on our bodies. Since the mid-1970s, use of the sweetener has soared; it now accounts for about 9% of the average American's daily caloric intake, with about one out of 10 Americans –– many of them children –– getting up to 20% of their daily calories from it.

10 April
Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity George A Bray, Samara Joy Nielsen and Barry M Popkin American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79, No. 4, 537-543, April 2004
The increased use of HFCS in the United States mirrors the rapid increase in obesity. The digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fructose differ from those of glucose. Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo lipogenesis. In addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy intake and weight gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages may enhance caloric overconsumption. Thus, the increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.