a bit off topic here but i find this rather amusing. high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is rated by the percentage of fructose. there is such a thing as 45 percent fructose and 55 percent glucose HFCS. table sugar is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose, meaning that table sugar is higher in fructose than some HFCS. what geniuses we have coming up with the names of products.

I am pleased to see that there is a bit more information about this wretched, unnatural product. I discovered I was allergic to maltodextrin because of Pringles, and I am thankful to Pringles for that. At the time, I was suffering from hives on my hands and arms, but did not know the cause. When I stopped eating the Pringles, the hives went away. I researched for more information, and basically the rest is history.

This was years ago, and since then, I have had many allergic reactions (hives, itching, swelling) ranging from mild to severe enough to warrant trips to the emergency room (for shots of benadryl and prednisone in order to halt the reaction). Later, by reading food labels, I have been able to link many of my allergic reactions to the consumption of foods with maltodextrin. The maltodextrin is the common link in these hideous occurrences. Currently, I read food labels with care, and do what I can to avoid maltodextrin, but I am not always successful.

I'm not a doctor, and I'm ignorant of many things, but what I can say with complete resolve is that when I eat foods with maltodextrin, I get hives. When I eat foods without maltodextrin, I am fine. Why? I cannot answer this question. I have no idea what maltodextrin is, or why this unfortunate things are happening to many people. Can't someone out there help us?

I pity the thousands, or perhaps millions of people out there who are suffering from allergic reactions, but have no idea what is causing them. Maltodextrin is in thousands of food products. The FDA appears to be worthless and toothless in regard to this issue.

Spread the word, please. Maltodextrin is a poison. I can only hope that someone who is trained and well-versed in these matters is reading this, and can begin some sort of preliminary research and inquiry into the matter.

I went online to find out what exactly it was. Needless to say, my search ended up with not only the process, but the chemical compound. It does not cause cravings, nor does it add "grit," etc. What it is, simply put, is a preservative so your food when it gets to the grocery shelf is not spoiled/rotten. A substitute for sugar and supposed to be healthier then pure sugar.

Organic food making would not be so catastrophic if over half of the farming we do is to feed animals for meat production.

So much energy is wasted harvesting animals, when we could simply eat the vegetables ourselves. According to the head of the United Nations Panel of Climate Change, (a serious voice to be heard,) our insatiable carnivorous tendencies cause a great deal of environmental issues.

I just think if we all would become mostly vegetarians, (supplementing our diet with meat every once in a while,) our world would instantly see a lot of problems absolving.

I am pre-diabetic and there is virtually nothing on the market that I can eat that is low sugar because it has maltodextrin in it. I think it is being used as a filler so that manufacturers can make a product that when their package weighed

one pound, they can lower the amount of product they put in the package, put some maltodextrin in it, and charge the same price. Maltodextrin is cheap and they can make a bigger profit. I have to read every food item I buy to check for maltodextrin because if I don't, I will get deathly ill.

I believe that is not true!

I was born and had lived in Indonesia - the fourth most populous country in the world - half of my life. We've eaten organic most of our lives, and no, we didn't lose our rainforest like you've proclaimed. We rank third in the world's largest rainforests. I don't think it's got anything to do with the rainforest!

Even though Indonesian life expectancy number is a few years less than for Americans, that is due to the medical technology. What is interesting is that Indonesian life expectancy has almost doubled since the 1960s, global medication technology has helped many third world country to increase life expectancy rate.

For Comment 112: Why can't we use natural ingredients?

Answer: Well, it would not be so "profitable" for the food industry. The "natural" chicken, cows, pigs, apples, and all of the vegetables are way smaller and less pretty than those with steroids and such. The food industry put "food additive", messing with your taste buds, and our body thinks that we need to eat more. Eat more means buy more products from the food industry which result in more profit. No wonder this makes America one of the fattest countries in the world. On Forbes world's fattest country, America ranks ninth while Indonesia ranks 175th.

Here in the US, I'm having hard time going all natural. The food and vegetables selections are so limited. I'm having to cook a lot of our meals instead of going out. We are blessed that our family has been relatively healthy. I'm fortunate to learn Indonesian recipes which involved things like bitter melon, long beans, black rice, red chili peppers - which in recent studies had proven to prevent cancers. We used herbs like turmeric (natural antibiotics). I think that the more natural ingredients we use, the healthier we would become.

The short answer is: because we don't want to chop down the rainforests.

Yes, if we converted over to 100 percent organic on a global basis, we'd either need to cut down about 80 percent of the current rainforests, or kill about a billion people in order to grow enough food to feed everyone.

Oh, and that feed would primarily be veg and fruit, with about 5 percent of the current meat production, primarily sheep and goats that can survive on poor diets of grass in areas like highlands where cereals won't grow.

I'm not saying that the modern diet is great - of course it isn't - look at the number of obese children we have walking around. But, the "natural past" involved 50 percent of kids dying before they reached their 10th birthdays, and the "romantic past" of happy families eating wholesome food never actually existed!

The manufacture of maltodextrin is not mentioned in your article. It is made using bleach, formaldehyde, and a few other gross chemicals. Bleach is used to bleach out sugar and flour and decaffeinate coffee and some individuals react to that. There are all kinds of reasons that individuals may react to maltodextrin.

Instead of proclaiming itself pure and wonderful and organic and safe for the consumption of all humankind for all eternity - so that you can obviously make money off mass usage - you should be responsibly investigating to find out what kind of medical issues it may cause and responsibly report on it. There is no perfect food that no one could possibly react to. Do the right thing! Diabetics are having issues too. That is awful to deny! It's murder.

of them are related to additives in food and genetically modified food. The law is supposed to protect consumers but it does protect the food industry.

I wish everybody well, but would just like to respond to a chef who is eating every thing for 15 years and nothing happened to him. I wish him all the health and hoping nothing happens to him. However, the statistics are not in his favor. Human body has an immune system that protects us from all the invaders in our body but after a while (15-20 years) some time the invaders get successful and we become sick.

Watch your diet and eat as much as natural as possible to be healthy.

Sometimes it is hidden in the ingredients under the words "Other Natural Flavors". I have finally figured out that if the sauce or chips are sweet then it's best to avoid it. Craziness.

i am a chef and have been for 15 years and i have eaten everything and never gotten sick from anything. so just because your body can't tolerate doritos, don't tell people not to eat them because they're bad. the way you talk everything in the market is bad. you talk and act as though you are the smartest person on the net.

"It might be in your laundry detergent." "it gives me allergies."

Long story short, maltodextrin is a sugar. That's it. It's amazing how a little scientific ignorance can snowball into a mass frenzy.

Recently I purchased a bag of kettle-cooked chips. It was their new style varieties that reminded me of Doritos. I bought the bag and opened it on the walk home and found myself eating like a pig because they were so good. I was suspicious of how good they were and soon thereafter puked.

I was of sound mind before I started eating them. I remembered checking the label before I bought the chips and had to check it again. The only ingredient that I didn't truly know was Maltodextrin. After that, I started noticing Maltodexterin in tons of food.

It was even in these thin seaweed crisps they were giving away at whole foods. I am of the opinion that they didn't improve on nature at all with Maltodextrin. I am suspicious of it and I would recommend avoiding it despite experts telling you how safe it is. The world of food, marketing and PR are corrupt with greed and malpractice. Good luck friends.

And considering there is a process necessary to derive these additives (i.e. they are unnatural), I would tend to agree with my body.

I used to read labels, but because the FDA allows corporations to play name games with ingredients, I've had to learn the hard way through physically and emotionally painful incidents that it's best simply to avoid processed / prepackaged food. I eat mainly organic fruits, vegetables, dairy, and lean meats. It seems that every time I stray from this diet I end up paying for it.

Crystal Light drinkers, please! It is sweetened with Aspartame! That stuff should have never been allowed on the market.

To everyone here who is suffering, please do yourself a favor and take some time to cleanse and fast for a couple of days. You don't need a commercial cleanse - make a pure one yourself:

1 Tbsp real maple syrup

10 oz distilled water

2 shakes of organic cayenne

juice of 1/2 organic lemon

Mix all together and drink. Consume four of these during one day of fasting all food and other beverages. This is referred to as The Master Cleanse.

After cleansing, get rid of all processed foods. Plan your meals the night before and take the time to prepare. The excuse "I don't have time" is not valid. When you are home sick you make time for that. When you are in the hospital you somehow make time for that. If you don't choose to make time for wellness now, you will be forced to make time for illness later.

Big Food does not care about your health - they care about selling their products and manufacturing as cheaply as possible. If they can get away with lying, they will.

healthier preservatives would be a plus without all the crap to bind fat and cholesterol to us, but at least we can eat. As for msg, well, forget msg. put real taste in our food please.

Two years ago, my eyes wouldn't stop tearing (constant weeping) even though I was diagnosed with dry eye. Then both my upper and lower lids would swell. I traced it to food: bread, noodles, salad dressing, licorice, Kettle Bran and Lays Salt and vinegar chips, crackers, bottled sauces etc. They all contained maltoxdextrin. I avoid it or suffer for three to five days if I accidentally ingest something with this product in it. Caroline

According to a book "Battling the MSG myth" by Debbie Anglesey, Maltodextrin is "made from hydrolyzed corn, and either free glutamate is a residue left during its manufacture, or MSG may be added to it and sold to food manufacturers that way."

So I am learning to avoid most pre-packaged manufactured foods, because there are just too many unknowns about what's in them. Did you know that some additives contain glutamate, but the FDA does not require manufacturers to reveal that.

So I am probably still ingesting glutamates, but at least if I can limit what I know to contain glutamate, I should be okay.

I'm no hippie-freak. But if you spent the time I do now, reading labels in grocery stores, you would see a pattern of just how much our food supply relies on questionable ingredients.

I am slowly but surely, learning to be my own food advocate, by cooking all my food myself and scrutinizing every single ingredient that goes into it.

Why are there so many excuses defending stuff we know is bad? There are a lot of people who believe it is natural to drink alcohol, so much, that it is as close as they will ever come to having a religion.

And the government does nothing to stop additives. And the people do nothing. Cows to the slaughter, all! Mooo! Here I come. Mooove over!

One extreme example is the person claiming maltodextrin to be 'an MSG product'. This is a silly rumor spreading around on the net on various conspiracy theory health websites. If you read the articles stating such, you will note that they have zero references proving such.

When we consume starch our enzymes actually produce maltodextrins (amylopectin). It still accounts for 4 kcal per gram just like any of your mono/disaccharides.

Try sweeteners like xylitol (in moderation, no more than 30gs per day), stevia (not processed sources like truvia ) and fructose (is not insulin dependent).

Of course, maltodextrin is fine for people with celiac (celiacs has to do with gluten allergy not CHO).

And to who wrote comment 16, maltodextrin is not a msg product. MSG just stands for monosodium glutamate. This is an amino acid, not a carbohydrate --Dr. Singh BSc(BSc), ND

Article 78 is technically correct. Under food legislation, the only compounds which count as sugars are mono and disaccharides. The levels

of these products in the resistant maltodextrin.

Article 65-restaurants do not normally use maltodextrin in their products. These materials are generally only used in processed foods as a bulking agent/filler.

To all of the people with allergies, maltodextrins are no different than starch. They are made from starch by enzyme or acid hydrolysis and highly refined. The protein content is less than 0.001 percent.

If you are having problems with maltodextrin, I would suggest you have the same issues with glucose syrup since these products are identical other than the level of conversion. If you do not have issues with glucose syrups as well, you have another problem.

Eat as organic as possible, minimize or totally eliminate all animal products except fish, eat more fruits and vegetables, don't buy or eat anything processed.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are best. Eat "Nature Made" not "Man Made". Keeping in mind what fresh foods you should avoid. You'll feel better and you'll lose weight.

Change to the "Mediterranean Diet" instead of the "American Diet". Exercise regularly and cleanse.

I have been seeing specialists for over 15 years regarding this painful issue. I have had operations, prescriptions, and been hospitalized because of the pain. The moment I started to make the correlation between the pain and maltodextrin I had no more pain. I now look at the labels and still get the pain but only when I eat something that has maltodextrin. So whoever says you are what you eat, is a genius! Can anyone else relate?

It is such a shame that the FDA allows HFCS in our food. I recently did some research and found that many of the foods that we consume daily include the ingredient High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). It's in almost everything including apple sauce, sodas, cookies ketchup, cereals, cakes, Minute Maid Orange Juice, Arizona Bottled Tea, Sobe, Candy, baby food etc. The list goes on and on.

According to Dr. Robert Lustig, a Nationally recognized Professor of Endocrinology and Metbolism at the University of California in San Francisco, "HFCS is a death sentence". He states that HFCS is related to Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Cancer, Diabetes and Gout in adults.

Since so much money is received by the USA from food exportation, I doubt that the FDA will step up and ban those products that contain HFCS. They don't want USA foods to be consdered unsafe for your health. I must also state that there were as many pros as there were cons on HFCS.

After checking the grocery shelves and the foods in my own pantry, I have become very cynical about all foods. The only conclusion that I can draw from all that I have learned is that it is left up to each individual's discretion to read the labels on all food products that you purchase and pay particular attention to ALL processed foods. Read labels, shop wise and stay healthy. -June

To no. 69, I can empathize with your difficulty, I had a great deal of problem knowing all the "corn chemicals" that were put into food, of which there are more than 100, that must be avoided by the corn allergic. I found a website that helped me get started.

My frustration is like so many people's, since Corn is not one of the Big Eight Allergens, then it is not listed on products, so we have to take our chances every time we eat.

Be careful with GMO containing food or seasoning.

I didn't even know it could be a corn derivative until I began to notice my son would get sick when eating foods containing this substance. -Frustrated.

i find now, that there is something more that is related to my breathing. I'm following maltodextrin and finding pretty obvious problems. Within 20 minutes of ingesting it, I'm limited and requiring a inhaler. Just wondering if any others are going though the same thing?

I decided to reread the label, and to my dismay they've changed their ingredients to include maltodextrin.

I'm sensitive to gluten and corn, so this sneaky food additive is a problem for me as well.

The only drawback is that you need to adjust your body to it gradually or you may get the runs.

Literally they take the exposed starch (by swelling the grain kernel) and throw some enzymes or acid on it. the enzyme/acid just hacks the starch into smaller pieces. weird that it would get coupled with MSG, but that product was maybe intended for use in soups or sauce. definitely added after maltodextrin production. In the US, there is or will be a law requiring food companies cite the source of the original starch (in. wheat maltodextrin [for celiacs]), but generally, it's free of plant protein. The structure is pretty simple, alpha1-4 glucose linkages in a repeating pattern of 1-20 units long. It's used in low fat food formulations, esp in cookies, puddings, and other creamy things. It helps replace the yummy mouth feel that you get from fat (that you might not recognize, but you know when it's not there). honestly the MD itself is not very sweet.

i really would never think to use it as a sweetener. It is a bulking agent so it's used to give volume to artificial sweeteners, vitamins, etc etc. No, it won't kill you. It's fairly natural as far as additives go. Still a digestible carb (not insoluble fibre) though so be moderate about your intake of anything that isn't a vegetable, ok?

i can't imagine it would make anyone sick unless they also got sick from table sugar or from eating potatoes. it is possible that if food grade product is not used, you can get protein contamination. i can see the triggering IBS thing though as it is still rather starch-like and if you don't digest it in your stomach, the bacteria in your gut will. though i think if you're consuming a sugar alcohol like maltitol, that is more likely the source.

sorry to people with celiac's, but until there is more transparency with labelling MD sources, it's impossible to tell what plant it came from.

#50, do your research a little better. Try looking at chemistry, not marketing bs.

This rule doesn't apply to pharmaceuticals manufactured in the USA, however, so it would be prudent to find a well informed pharmacist who will let you know if any of your Rx's or OC meds contain maltodextrin.

Persons who are in a prediabetic state or who are managing diabetes using diet understand making dietary decisions that are less likely to cause blood glucose levels to spike. Since maltodextrin tends to not cause glucose spikes the way processed table sugar does, it is possible to have something sweet now and again. This is similar to the way that some diabetics may be able to have a slice of whole grain bread and not experience a spike like they would by consuming a piece of bleached white bread with the same or even a lesser number of carbs. The body simply uses the food more efficiently and turns it into energy quicker.

Of course, what works for persons with diabetes is also likely to work for others. This is pretty good news for people who don't care for some of the other popular sweetening alternatives on the market today.

I am not familiar with maltodextrin SSH, but you may want to check with a pharmacist. They often know about over the counter medications as well as prescription medications.