What the heck is high maltose corn syrup

Mmmmmm good!

But not so good when the “m” stands for “maltose.”

My friend Marissa e-mailed me the other day with this note: “Have you heard of high maltose corn syrup? I haven’t. Think they’re just being tricky?”

Rosalyn found HMCS listed as an ingredient on a box of Eating Right cranberry almond bran cereal. And I understand her suspicion – food producers have been known to come up with tricky creative wordplay to mask the use of high fructose corn syrup.

Apparently, HMCS (which is also known as maltodextrin and malt sugar) is a slightly less-sweet cousin to HFCS. Obviously, both are highly refined corn products.

According to one chemical engineer, maltose is a common type of sugar that (unlike fructose) is broken down into glucose molecules in the body. In theory, this might make it a slightly healthier sweetener. Or put a better way: Not quite as unhealthy as HFCS.

If you happen to have celiac disease, HMCS should be avoided because it contains gluten. And as celiac patients know, gluten is hidden throughout our food supply. HMCS, for instance, is commonly used in the making of beer, bread, candy, ice cream, baby formula, and (as Marissa found out) cereal products.

On the Safeway website, Eating Right cereal is described as “honey-glazed bran flakes.” And while there is some actual honey in Eating Right, when it’s combined with HMCS, it makes for a high carb, super-sweet breakfast. According to the nutrition panel, one cup of Eating Right cranberry almond bran cereal delivers 18 grams of sugars (which equals more than four teaspoons of table sugar), and a whopping 41 net grams of carbohydrates. Also listed: “Other Carbohydrate 23 grams.”

What’s an “other” carbohydrate? You got me. Sounds like something tricky.