Yummy! Mercury!

Several years ago I turned into a fanatical label reader. I avoid products with hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup. Why corn syrup? It's just a sweetener, after all. Well, I have read too many things about it to feel good about eating it. An article I just read makes me happy I cut this food item out of my diet:

Studies Find Mercury in Much US Corn Syrup

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many common foods made using commercial high fructose corn syrup contain mercury as well, researchers reported on Tuesday, while another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated.

Food processors and the corn syrup industry group attacked the findings as flawed and outdated, but the researchers said it was important for people to know about any potential sources of the toxic metal in their food.

In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

There are a couple of things about the study of actual food items that don't seem well designed. If you read the entire article you may wonder why the study on actual food items didn't also test food without corn syrup but manufactured in the same plants to see if the mercury was actually in the corn syrup or was a byproduct of the manufacturing process. Either answer would be equally bad, but would be more conclusive. But the first study by itself is enough to make me quite happy to continue to avoid the yummy sounding high fructose corn syrup.