Corn syrup is not the problem of your beer

TThe corn lobby was unhappy with the Bud Light Super Bowl announcement cast a shadow beer brewed with corn syrup. This time, corn producers are right: Miller Lite and Coors Light do not load their beer with high-fructose corn syrup that consumers are worried about. And the rice in your Bud Light is neither better nor worse than corn in this Coors Light.

America largest beer company has recently put in place greater health awareness in its branding, but corn syrup is really the least of the beer drinker's worries.

During one of the many Super Bowl ads on Sunday, Bud Light called Miller Lite and Coors Light competitors for brewing in corn syrup. The National Corn Growers Association tweeted yesterday that US corn producers were unhappy:

Bud Light, who has recently started printing of nutritional labels on its packaging, although the Tobacco and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Bureau does not require it, has been taken seriously by health care from a clientele more and more intrigued by the craft beer rather than by the big brewers.

Miller Lite and Coors Light use corn syrup as a cheaper partial replacement for malted barley, the basic grain of beer. Bud Light uses rice. So, just because it's possible, the company takes advantage of our national fear of high fructose corn syrup and the easy confusion between HCFS and old fructose-free corn syrup.

Is corn syrup worse than rice?

"For health, there is not much of a difference," says Christopher Hamilton, a chemistry professor at Hillsdale College. "The corn syrup ferments almost completely and becomes alcohol, so in terms of alcohol and calories, it would be the same as using rice or corn sugar."

Hamilton adds that corn syrup is common in light American lagers, its goal being "to give beer a lighter body and flavor".

Beer lovers will also notice that any beer that contains fermentable sugar that does not come from malt is a "lager" and that many companies add substances such as corn (or rice) to reduce their costs. It's not a health issue; it's a question of quality. And Bud Light knows he certainly can not campaign on this.

If you want a healthier beer, do not worry about corn, rice or any other federally subsidized product. Like MillerCoors points out while casting your own shadow, beware of calories and carbohydrates.