Yesterday, I picked up a box of a new kind of “natural” chewy granola bars made by Quaker Oats. The first thought I had was that chewy granola bars do not occur in nature, but that if they had, human beings may have never invented civilization.
I looked at the ingredients label, my eyes well-trained by books like Omnivore’s Dilemma to search for the villain high fructose corn syrup. It wasn’t there. In its place was another syrup – brown rice syrup.
“Well, that ought to be better,” I thought, then quickly reconsidered that conclusion. After all, brown rice is healthier than white rice because it remains mostly whole during the cooking process, retaining more nutritious parts like the germ. I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but it seems highly unlikely to me that those same parts remain for the production of brown rice syrup.
So, what would make brown rice syrup more healthy than high fructose corn syrup?
Almost all corn is now genetically modified (so is soy). I don’t want to eat anything that is derived from that. Brown rice syrup may be a simple carb. like high fructose corn syrup, but it probably isn’t franken food…
Modern rice is as genetically modified as corn, if not even more so. I would challenge any biochemist to be able to tell the difference (except for genetic analysis) between corn modified by modern genetic techniques and corn modified through standard breeding practices (which are also a form of genetic modification).
I buy no GMO rice and brown rice syrup for that exact reason. It’s not about what it does to my body persay…it’s about what it has done to farmers and to the quality of food in our country. There is a reason european countries are banning the practice and a good reason why the government has not allowed wheat to be modified. It’s precautious not certain…but I’ll err on the side that has less negative possibilities.
Corn got to be corn by being genetically modified. It just wasn’t done with a syringe. What is it particularly about recent genetic modification that disturbs you, Laura?
Jim, I remember reading a white paper, and just today was watching esoteric agenda which reiterated that the genome with the inserted genes is not stable and is constantly mutating to the point where they aren’t sure what exactly they created anymore. Trying to emulate a process that took millions of years in one generation of a plant that doesn’t even live a whole year is an exercise in madness.
The genetic modifications that have been developed in corn have to do with developing a resistance to pesticides. Monsanto, the makers of Round Up, have developed seeds that produce plants that will not die if they are sprayed with Round Up. Even if the spray does not kill the plant, I find it hard to believe that the pesticide is not pulled into the cells of the plant and then passed on in the corn that is produced. Are we eating those chemicals. Last time I read a label of Round UP, I believe that is said not to ingest it.
Furthermore, how does eating sugar from a plant that’s been genetically modified differ from eating sugar from a plant that hasn’t been? Sugar is sugar.
Jim and Green Man, a good place to start researching GMO’s and Monsanto is by checking out “the future of food” from your library. That will answer those questions for you.
Jay, I’d really like to hear you give a shot at answering those questions for yourself, instead of just forwarding us on to a higher authority.
Google is our friend. Let us use it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice_syrup
“Brown rice syrup, also known as rice syrup, is a sweetener derived by culturing cooked rice with enzymes (usually from dried barley sprouts) to break down the starches, then straining off the liquid and cooking it until the desired consistency is reached. The final product is roughly 50% soluble complex carbohydrates, 45% maltose, and 3% glucose. The glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream immediately, while the maltose takes up to one and a half hours to be digested (see glycemic index), and the complex carbohydrates take from two to three hours, providing a steady supply of energy. Rice syrup has a shelf life of about a year, and once opened, should be stored in a cool, dry place.
Brown Rice Syrup is produced commercially by cooking brown rice flour or brown rice starch with enzymes. These enzymes are usually GMO-free although sometimes synthetic or GM enzymes are also used by some producers. The final carbohydrate profile is adjustable depending upon the desired sweetness and application. The syrup is then filtered and excess water is evaporated to achieve desired consistency. These are produced on a commercial scale by several companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia.”
My personal preference is for agave nectar. Here’s a comparison of agave nectar to other sweeteners: http://www.allaboutagave.com/agave-vs-liquid.php
To be truthful, Paliban, you’re using Wikipedia as a source, not Google.
Given that, who knows what the sources of this information actually are? It pays to be critical.
The wikipedia entry has since been edited :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice_syrup .
Notably : “The final product is 45% maltose, 3% glucose, and 52% maltotriose[1]. Glucose, which is used as the reference food in constructing the Glycemic Index, has a glycemic index of 100. It passes through the stomach and into the liver where it is digested very quickly. Maltose, which has a slightly higher glycemic index of 105, is processed into blood glucose even faster. For this reason BRS should not be used by diabetics. [2] The more complex carbohydrate, maltotriose, takes 2-3 hours to digest.”
These are different numbers than the ’08 entry and frankly more pro-fructose. Wonder who may have been motivated to edit that? Seen lots of other changes on wikipedia like this and I don’t trust it as much – that’s another topic.
I’m just trying to make energy bars! dont know whether to go with brown rice syrup or Karo Lite. will look up agave though ~
The most important fact to know about brown rice syrup is how your body responds to the type of carbohydrates present in the substance.
From the wikipedia entry, it looks as though brown rice syrup is largely comprised of low GI carbohydrates, though I am basing this on the fact that most complex carbohydrates have a low GI score. Maltodextrin is one complex carbohydrate that has an extremely high GI score, and the article makes the point of mentioning that maltose is only one molecule away from being maltodextrin.
My conclusion is that Brown Rice syrup would be better nutritionally than honey or other types of sugar because it doesnt have as high a GI score, it is also probably not as sweet, so to get the same effect as a higher GI sugar you would need to use more, thus increasing the glycemic load, which could result in a GI score as high or higher than one of the higher GI sugars.
I would imagine that the syrupy sugars which leak from sweet potatoes during cooking are of similar nutritional value. So in the end, Brown Rice Syrup is probably a very good sweetener to use, but it is still a sugar, and should be consumed very occasionally.
Green Man and the other guy who are paid spammers who crawl the internet promoting GMOs. Please ignore them. This activity is common now – Monsanto and the Biotech hire people for $1 per hour to crawl the internet and promote GMOs and Biotech products.
Be aware!
Excuse me? I think you’d better come up with some evidence to support that accusation, Pablo – both for me and in general.
Nobody pays me to write what I write, and nobody tells me what to write. I am in no way associated with Monsanto or Biotech, or any corporation that pays people to promote their ideas.
If you actually bothered to read more of what I’ve written, Pablo, you’d see that I often criticize companies like Monsanto – and sometimes Monsanto by name.
It seems to me, Pablo, that you’re not willing to grapple with the ideas in this article, and so you’re lowering yourself to a personal attack instead.
Needed to be said.
Sounds about right, Green Man. If they’ve got no substance, they go to the ad hominem attacks. Lame!
brown rice syrup is actually a good, natural substitute to the more processed nutritional supplements that athletes take for energy. Many athletes take something with maltodextrose for long term energy either while they are working out or after. It provides the energy without the crash, and the minimal amount of glucose is not wasted either if you are an athlete. I am using it now in a natural after workout drink I have concocted.
I would imagine, if nothing else, brown rice syrup is better politically. Farmers are encouraged to grow inedible corn species for high fructose corn syrup (and other industrial applications) at the expense of edible crops by being given subsidies. The bread belt no longer grows crops that can feed the world. And what’s worse, high fructose corn syrup is snuck into everything under the sun. It would be one thing if it were only used to sweeten a product that is sweet by nature, but it is put into many products you would never imagine in order to make foods more “palatable.” I found it in a cans of vegetarian vegetable and tomato soups. WTF?! Even in sweet foods, it lowers the quality and sometimes even gives a strange bitter aftertaste. Sugar and molasses may be more expensive, but I would gladly pay a little more in order to had good tasting food that had ingedients that are edible from the get go. I don’t know about how different brown rice syrup is as a sugar. I am curious what this stuff tastes like.
My kiddos and I used brown rice syrup in place of light corn syrup this afternoon in the icing for spelt chocolate cupcakes (made with avocado and coconut oil).
I just purchased my first bottle of brown rice syrup, and so am also wondering if it is really good for you. Obvioiusly, processing does change things, though brown rice is a whole grain, so far better to begin with than the GMO corn that seems to be unavoidable these days.
I agree with Paliban Mom, in that agave nectar is a great alternative. Our family is sensitive to refined sugar, corn syrup, etc. So we avoid it as much as possible (grandma’s house is hard to avoid).
As others have said: sugars need to be used sparingly if we really want good nutrition and health. When using sweetners (raw sugar, raw honey, agave, etc) I use less than the recipe suggests. After limiting the sweet in our diet for years, my tastebuds long for the spices instead.
High fructose corn syrup, like sugar, is rich in fructose. Excessive fructose consumption, over time, can cause a fatty liver, even cirrhosis, excessive belly fat, and insulin resistance because the liver has to change the fructose into glucose. I don’t think insulin can act upon fructose.
I don’t think rice syrup has fructose. I don’t know how maltose is metabolized. Is it broken down into glucose in the liver? Or does it break down into glucose during digestion?
Brown rice syrup has maltose which is easily broken down into glucose during digestion. Brown rice syrup is definitely better for you, but not as tasty as corn syrup.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL
Studies by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Michigan have shown that consuming fructose, which is more readily converted to fat by the liver, increases the levels of fat in the bloodstream in the form of triglycerides.
And unlike other types of carbohydrate made up of glucose, fructose does not stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. Peter Havel, a nutrition researcher at UC Davis who studies the metabolic effects of fructose, has also shown that fructose fails to increase the production of leptin, a hormone produced by the body’s fat cells.
Both insulin and leptin act as signals to the brain to turn down the appetite and control body weight. And in another metabolic twist, Havel’s research shows that fructose does not appear to suppress the production of ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger and appetite.
“Because fructose in isolation doesn’t activate the hormones that regulate body weight as do other types of carbohydrate composed of glucose, consuming a diet high in fructose could lead to taking in more calories and, over time, to weight gain,” he says.
Sorry, guys…you are all wrong and it seems to me just guessing. I hate to tell you this but unfortunately all plants except heirloom plants have been genetically modified in some manner or another. This means either by pollination manipulation or chemically, or using radiation, or something. Even some heirlooms were modified a long time ago. So, let’s stop all this hair pulling and jumping about and concentrate on the real issue – what is best for our bodies.
Brown Rice Syrup is a high GI food. Therefore to stablize it as far as absorption in the body, it should be mixed with a low GI food and a complex carbohydrate. That way the high GI is absorbed immediately, the low GI food – usually a maltose, is absorbed in about an hour and the complex carbs in about 2 to 3 hours. This is what you see in power bars and power gels.
As far as worrying about food/plant modification you guys are either at one end of the spectrum or the other. You either don’t care at all about GM foods or you think they should stop all GM on foods. Use common sense, there is a middle ground. Lord knows, I would hate to have to eat a watermelon the way they were 500 years ago. Mainly just a lump about half the size of a cantaloupe.
As a paleoethnobotanist, I draw the line with chemically altered foods IF there is a possibility that the chemicals remain present. Other than that, have at it. You must realize that there are tests that are done on ALL farm grown foods that give the composition of these foods. Check with your local USDA and Agricuture Association. So, it’s not like we don’t know what’s in them. So, don’t stress so much.
If everyone spent half the time you devote to reading the latest hysteria about food dangers EXERCISING, we’d be well on our way to improved health statistics. All this hair-splitting about which sugar is better misses the point – we, as a nation, eat too many calories and burn too few.
I decided 20 years ago (after 9 years at Whole Foods – I was one of the original Whole Foods employees when there was only 1 little store in Austin, Tx.)that I would just use common sense and not follow the latest fads. I eat fruit, vegetables, meat, bread, pasta, butter!, eggs! (real foods) and limit processed foods. MODERATION is the key. I avoid overly sweet foods. I limit my calorie intake to reasonable portions (no calorie counting) and I EXERCISE daily. I’m 52, 6’1″, weigh 150lbs., 32″ waist, have low cholesterol, 12% body fat, a resting heart rate of 70 bpm, and feel as good as I did at 30. Most people think I’m 15 years younger than my age.
My philosophy is based in having had farmers for grandparents (both sides of my family)They ate their own food and WORKED THEIR BUTTS OFF until they were old and gray. All lived into their 80′s and 90′s and lived well.
Common sense – eat local when you can, eat fresh, don’t overeat, control your sweet tooth, exercise. Go ride a bike!
“The primary sugar in agave nectar is a complex form of fructose” says the about agave nectar website – I couldn’t find anything on the percentage of fructose in rice syrup, but I’m guessing it’s not much better.
Ultimately all fructose is POISON. It’s that simple. It’s just not one that can kill instantly, so people don’t realize it. If you doubt me, consider how fructose is processed by the body compared to glucose.
Glucose goes mouth > stomach/intestines > blood/brain/cells/insulin/leptin > liver.
The liver only has to deal with any little bit left over after every part of you body has decided it’s not hungry anymore. Unless you’re just gorging or already have a screwed up insulin response due to diabetes or whatever, your brain “gets” that you’ve eaten about 15 minutes into the act and turns on the “don’t grow manboobs!” hormones. It’s a relatively healthy process. If you go from a fasting level to a 150 calorie snack of pure glucose and then don’t eat for 2-3 hours (and have a healthy pancreas), you’ll burn most of that fuel…clean. About a half a calorie left over will end up as some triglyceride somewhere.
ALL Fructose goes mouth > stomach/intestines > LIVER > -aldahydes and acetates (never good), triglycerides, fat > (finally) cells/brain (IF and ONLY IF those cells are asking for fuel from fat and not happily fed by other more available things in your diet). Insulin doesn’t touch it and it seems to interfere with the release of leptin. This means that 20 minutes after eating/drinking mostly fructose stuff, your body has no clue you had 150 calories and whines for more.
We call EVERY OTHER chemical on earth that shunts past most of the body to be processed primarily by the liver a toxin or a poison. Ethanol (booze) is a known *acute* toxin: too much too soon can *kill* you. Fructose shares 8/12 processing steps with ethanol. The only major difference is that it won’t kill you right away.
If you want it broken down in exacting biochemical detail, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
“I couldn’t find anything on the percentage of fructose in rice syrup, but I’m guessing it’s not much better.”
That’s because brown rice syrip has 0% fructose in it.
“Brown Rice Syrups consists of approximately 50% soluble complex carbohydrates, 45% maltose and 3% glucose”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice_syrup
http://www.brownricesyrups.com/
Fructose is poison?
You have to be kidding me. Fructose is fruit sugar. It is found naturally and is the main source of calories in almost all fruit.
Sugar, the bitter truth… it’s an _okay_ video, but the presenter leaves some holes in his logic. It is true that fructose is metabolized in the liver only, and that during the fructolysis cycle, the precursors to de novo lipogenesis are created, but lipogenesis only occurs IF there is not a deficiency of blood sugar or glycogen. If hypoglycemia is present (as in the case of post-exercise recuperation, etc), the fructose is processed into glycogen, not fat. Which metabolic pathway the fructose takes depends on many other things. The body is one giant closed-loop control system, and it will make fructose into whatever it needs at the time, or it will be stored (in which case the lipogenic pathway is used).
Fructose in large quantities is indeed toxic, but so is everything else in large quantities. Fructose is a low-GI sugar. Glucose is not. Brown Rice syrup is based on a starch, which is comprised mostly of glucose, so there is little fructose in brown rice syrup. There are mostly glucose and equivalent polymers of varying dextrose equivalency (dextrose is another name for glucose). Chains of dextrose longer than 20 are called “maltodextrins,” but despite their “complex” nature, are HUGE GI response motivators. The Glycemic Index of standard nutritional maltodextrin is in excess of 140 – meaning that it causes a 40% larger rise in blood sugar (and corresponding insulin response) than pure glucose.
Starchy vegetables in general do not contain much fructose.
The important thing to remember, and this is the big mistake that the bitter truth makes, is that calories ARE calories, no ifs, ands, or buts. The body, like everything else, obeys all physical laws, including those of thermodynamics. So, fructose does not necessarily make you fat. Consuming more calories than you expend DOES necessarily make you fat. Fructose is not necessarily bad for you – but a huge excess of it CAN be in the absence of a balanced diet and exercise.
There is a huge industry. It is called the “excuse” industry. It’s product is justification, and people buy it like it’s going out of style. Everyone is looking for something to blame for their health problems, but really you are responsible for yourself, and you can’t go blaming everyone else when you destroy your health with an unhealthy lifestyle.
The first law of thermodynamics does not apply to the human body, which is NOT a closed system, as people try to imply.
Also, it is likely that years of brainwashing that “low-fat” is the way to go, is a major factor in our current rates of obesity and the lack of progress we’ve made in reducing heart disease, diabetes 2, etc.
Awesome thread. Lots to think about.
I will say about agave: it is NOT a good alternative. Dr. Ann Weiss, an Alpha Scientist, had a human trial with agave that had diabetics in it. She had to stop mid-way because the diabetics were passing out. Not all natural things are better for us. She should know; her company is the only one in the U.S. that does ALL the testing to see if a product is glycemic friendly or not. You have to submit the product and 99% of them fail. She often does free talks if you can get to them. She’s very informative for anyone who is interested.
For more on glycemic trials you can check out her site @ http://www.glycemic.com/
Cheers.
Nothing to add, but think I have found a very informative blog here, and it answered the question I had of rice syrup versus corn syrup. Some informative science, some obvious hidden agendas supporting industrialization of agriculture. I can’t wait to read more.
brown rice syrup is better then corn syrup
Actually, corn syrup is pure glucose. No fructose in it (which surprised me no end when I found out). Agree that fructose should not be deliberately added to anyone’s diet, just because it is “low GI”. We get enough through real foods.
Oh! unless you meant to say “rice syrup is better than high fructose corn syrup”. In which case, AGREE.
i looked this up after noticing that kasha granola bars had brown rice syrup in them, & I think the jist of the comments is that brown rice syrup is healthier than corn syrup, which doesn’t surprise me since my doctor advised me to keep away from anything with corn syrup in it as I was 20 pounds overweight then (am 5-10 lbs overweight now, as soon as i leave this stressful job i’ll be in the zone!). it’s very hard to find food/drink products without corn syrup in them – no wonder presidential primaries begin in Iowa every time.
IF WE ALL START AVOIDING CORN SYRUP FOR HEALTH REASONS, ONE SMALL PART OF THE POLITICAL PROBLEM OF THIS COUNTRY COULD BE SOLVED! There’s no good reason why these primaries shouldn’t rotate to a different state every election, or at least a different region of the country, it’s criminal that one state gets this privilege every time. take the power of the corn lobby away to allow the entire population an equal say in who runs for president for gods sake!!!
I have not done my research on ‘high maltose brown rice syrup’ and I find it odd that all of you are only speaking of brown rice syrup. I do know a small bit about high fructose corn syrup and high maltose corn syrup. I find them both disgusting and thnk that the companies are trying to divert us into thinking we are eating something OK.. Any wannabe ‘sugar’ product starting out w the word ‘high’ has got to set ofgf bells.
About the whole GMO thing… yes, plants have been cross pollinated and bred since the beginning of cultivation but actually splicing cells and adding bacteria such as salmonella to said cells to make the plant resistant to their MANSANTO pesticides
I admit i am no scientist yet i will also say that some of this seems common sensical. we need to stop eating these foods and we can change a lot of very bad things in the world…
I will bring up the fact that plastic bottles water is awful and in particular we should all stay away from NESTLE bottles water and all their procusts. … they steal water from people who can’t affored to get water back from them.. it’s sick.
ps sorry about any grammatical eroros or typos as my comp is being uber slow
I ended up here after watching Christina dump massive quantities of maple-flavored brown rice syrup into a “healthy” snack for children on Christina Cooks. She then proceeded to pontificate on how eating this, with breaded deep fried bananas, was better than eating junk food.
Your blog topic hits Christina right between the eyes. Junk food is junk food. And sugars made using enzymes acting on starches are not natural foods.
Yet what is it that makes brown rice syrup as cool to eat as a Starbucks Frappuchino? I see lots of Luddite comments here about GMOs, yet somehow brown rice syrup wears the shining badge of healthy eating. There are no accusations of profiteering or evil laid at the feet of the corporations profiting from sale of the brown syrup.
Maybe being expensive is what makes a thing cool. Maybe this higher cost factor is what puts Christina on a higher moral plain than Paula Deen.
First, I’d like to say that I am a Republican health nut and environmentlist
) and find it funny how I landed at this extremely left-wing site by Googling Brown Rice Syrup.
Second, I just had a taste of brown rice syrup and judging by my heart rate, I would say that its GI is probably up there with high-fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, etc.
Enjoy Mid-term elections
!
This thread was awesome – however, the verdict is quite unclear. LOL. I actually use raw honey, panela sugar, agave nectar, and brown rice syrup as a sweetener; depending on my mood…always choosing organic where available or whatever’s closest at hand, in moderation.
I’ll be back to check the score. (smile)
Forward march!
There is a difference. And no, the statement by another poster, “sugar is sugar” is completely erroneous and ignorant.
Brown Rice Syrup is made up mainly of maltose – which breaks down into glucose readily in the body and so tends to burn as energy, stimulating the metabolism.
Fructose, as in corn syrup, tends to be converted directly to fat in the body – and worse, cancer cells (if you have any) absolutely LOVE fructose, which is why cancer patients are told to avoid sweet fruits and corns syrup. In addition, some 90% of the corn in the US is GMO, and tests have shown detectable levels of mercury in several major brands.
See how they are tricking us to overeat. Watch Sugar the Bitter Truth children’s version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PMQvamaAcc