Barbecue is a culture not just a sauce. People put a lot into slow-smoking meats in order to pair it with creative concoctions of sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce. Most of the best chefs will tell you not to touch the grocery store brand sauces, but sometimes there is not enough time or resources to purchase the best ingredients.

When you have to opt for the large brand barbecue sauces, you don’t want to trade your health for convenience and/or low prices. Frankly, it’s not necessary either. According to Natural News, many brands are loading their products up with the demonized sugar substitute, high fructose corn syrup (H.F.C.S.).

H.F.C.S. lost all its credibility after many health organizations proved that the sugar substance contained many toxic chemicals. One of the most surprising chemicals that help bind the substance together is the embalming agent, glutaraldehyde. The American food industry chooses corn syrup because it makes sense financially, using our massive corn reserves to satisfy consumers demand for sugar.

Natural News highlighted six barbecue sauces — including the popular brands K.C. Masterpiece, Jack Daniels, and Sweet Baby Rays — that used H.F.C.S. as their primary sweeter.

“Research is steadily mounting, showing the health consequences of consuming HFCS include fatty liver, increased abdominal fat, higher triglyceride levels, increased tooth decay, anemia, osteoporosis, ADD and more,” according to Natural News.

Not only is commercial barbecue sauce raising your sugar levels, many large food brands use wood cellulose to create that thick, hearty flavor, giving a whole new meaning to hickory-smoked flavoring.

The rising cost of raw materials like flour, sugar and oil is helping boost the popularity of these additives, producers of the ingredients say.

Keeping in mind that barbecue sauce contains the same tomato paste that is in frozen pizzas, Congress now has a new vegetable to add to school lunches. How wonderful …