High Maltose Corn Syrup?
I bought a box of General Mills Vanilla Bean Latte granola bars, for snacking on throughout the weak. To my surprise, it had high maltose corn syrup as the first ingredient. I know that maltose is a disaccharide with two glucoses, but how does this differ from high fructose corn syrup? Is it better or worse?
note: I'm posting from Ontario, and our laws don't specify labelling HFCS, it can say "glucose-fructose" and that's also an ingredient, although far near the bottom of the ingredients list.
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3 Comments:
I believe that High Maltose Corn Syrup is the same as maltodextrin (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). It's not nearly as sweet as HFCS, but seems to be commonly used.
As a soon-to-be college graduate with a nutrition degree, I don't know too much about HMCS, but would always prefer a product with sugar rather than corn syrup. In the HFCS, it's the high levels of fructose that scare me (as it can only be metabolized in the liver), however I'm not so sure about how maltose is metabolized.
I have tried to cut down on my consumption of corn syrup of all kinds, and it's really amazing to note that it's in just about every processed food product! I am a strong advocate of 'everything in moderation', so rather than trying to eliminate corn syrup from one's diet, I think it's much more realistic to try to choose foods that have it further down on the ingredient label. If it's the first ingredient in those granola bars, well, I guess it's up to you. Just how good are they?
elizabeth786 at 1:57PM on 03/16/08
@elizabeth786: I was thinking along those lines too. As well, would the bond of the 2 glucoses be broken and then processed as glucose, or would the body try to handle the disaccharide as is?
HFCS has been creeping up north lately, and the taste of Coca Cola suffers...badly. At least it's worked to put me off Cola, until I can find cheap Jones Soda =P.
browntown at 3:15PM on 03/16/08
HMCS does appear to be Maltodextrin.
Here's some info on Maltodextrin:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-maltodextrin.htm
ronzoni at 3:28PM on 07/17/08