When you walk into any American kitchen, there’s a good chance you’ll find a bottle of ketchup in the fridge, most likely the famous Heinz brand. It’s a staple, used on hot dogs, hamburgers, and other classic dishes. But while ketchup may be a popular tradition, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, health experts are warning people about the dangers hiding in this beloved condiment.
Health professionals are sounding the alarm: “Pay attention to what’s in your ketchup. It’s not as harmless as you think.”
Although ketchup was even pushed by Ronald Reagan to be considered a vegetable for school lunches, the reality is far from healthy. The problem? Ketchup contains a cocktail of harmful ingredients that could hurt your health.
Many people assume ketchup is just made from tomatoes, but that’s not the case. Instead of using fresh tomatoes, most companies, including Heinz, use something called tomato concentrate. It’s essentially dried tomatoes that are rehydrated with water—not the fresh, wholesome tomatoes you might imagine.
After the tomato concentrate, the list of ingredients gets even more troubling. Heinz ketchup also includes distilled vinegar, high-fructose corn syrup (a processed sweetener made from corn), regular corn syrup (yep, more sugar), salt (which raises your blood pressure), spices, onion powder, and something called natural flavoring.
Did you catch that? Not just one, but two types of sugar are packed into your ketchup, making it extra sweet and addictive, especially for kids. The ingredients are listed in order of how much the product contains by weight, and since both types of sugar are listed separately, it makes the ketchup seem healthier than it actually is.
If ketchup manufacturers had only listed one type of sugar, it would probably be at the very top of the ingredient list. But by splitting it into high-fructose corn syrup and corn syrup, they’re able to mask just how much sugar you’re really consuming.
So, how much sugar is in there, really? You might be shocked. YouTuber Mr. Eastcoastman decided to find out and poured the amount of sugar found in a typical 1.3-liter bottle of Heinz ketchup. The result? 33 tablespoons of sugar, or more than 2 cups! For comparison, you likely use just one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee.
Every time you squirt ketchup on a burger or fries, you’re getting around two tablespoons of ketchup, which contains two teaspoons of sugar. Most people have no idea how much sugar they’re actually eating when they reach for ketchup.
And what about those “spices” and “natural flavorings” listed on the bottle? No one knows for sure, except Heinz. It’s a mystery what’s really in your food.
What do you think about all this? “Let us know in the comments!”
