About

SweetDisguise.com is an effort to raise awareness and educate consumers about the potential and actual dangers of processed food and beverage ingredients. SweetDisguise.com was founded by Bruce Shankle and Nik Donets, colleagues at a very large software company in the Pacific Northwest, who were inspired by a lecture entitled “Sugar – The Bitter Truth” by Dr.Robert H. Lustig, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology and Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at the University of California San Francisco.

Our world’s obesity epidemic and associated health problems can be directly correlated to the foods we eat. In the mid 1970’s, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) became widely used in many of the foods we eat as a low-cost alternative to sugar. Today, high fructose corn syrup use is widespread. This artificially created sweetener is consumed in a wide variety of foods from candy, soft drinks and ketchup to bread, soups, and seasonings. It is so popular that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find products that do not contain high fructose corn syrup or other corn products. Assuming this food additive is safe, that wouldn’t be a problem. But what if it is isn’t safe? What if high fructose corn syrup is actually bad for human consumption? Especially in the quantities we ingest today?

There is large body of growing evidence that suggests high fructose corn syrup is the culprit behind a host of health problems. The Corn Refiners association, whose best interest lies in convincing the public that high fructose corn syrup is safe, funds a marketing campaign which includes television ads and a web site called SweetSurprise.com. The intent of this marketing campaign is to suggest that critics of high fructose corn syrup don’t have the facts. But the fact is, something has happened to human diet and health in the last few decades and we have an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes on our hands. And it’s not just the United States. This is happening in many developing countries that have adopted a western diet, which, as it stands today, includes a lot of high fructose corn syrup.

SweetDisguise.com is our answer to the Corn Refiners Association marketing campaign. We want show you a point of view that the corn syrup industry doesn’t want you to see. Our goal is to educate you about the chemistry and long-term health effects of sweeteners in the foods you eat. We’ll educate you about products that contain high fructose corn syrup, and we’ll help you find foods that are free from it. Our goal is better health through education. We’ll provide links to information, articles, and videos by intelligent, credible researchers and authors who are trying to shine a light on the bitter realities of the foods we consume.

We live in a world where businesses use genetically modified and heavily processed foods to provide cheap calories to a growing world population. But the fact is, many of those foods are unhealthy for you, me and our children. High fructose corn syrup, as consumed by many people today, is a poison in disguise…a sweet disguise.

About Bruce Shankle

Bruce Shankle is a software development engineer, author, pilot, musician, health advocate, and father of two. Bruce grew up on a small farm in rural North Carolina where he learned the lessons of hard work. In high-school, he was a finalist candidate for the prestigious North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. He later attended North Carolina State University where he studied mechanical engineering, computer science, animal science, horticulture, and aerospace engineering before starting his first software company in his mid 20’s to produced software for the military, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical industries. Bruce designed interactive voice response systems for clinical studies of various compounds for Duke Clinical Research Institute. He subsequently co-founded Veracity Logic, LLC,  and developed a patented approach to high speed clinical study design using real-time computer simulation. Bruce also developed tools and graphics for the interactive entertainment industry including Epic Games, developer of the Unreal franchise, as well as Ubisoft’s Red Storm studio. He is credited in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter on the Xbox 360. Bruce has been a technical writer off and on through the years for various programming journals. Bruce now works as a technical lead in operating system graphics at a major software company in the Pacific Northwest. His hobbies include flying, playing piano, staying fit, and eating right.

About Nik Donets

Nik Donets is a software development engineer, web 2.0 expert, graphic designer, and co-founder of Butterfly Knowledge Systems, a consulting firm that specializes in information technology, knolwedge-base systems, and small-cap marketing. Nik grew up in the former USSR where he saw the economy collapse before immigrating to Vancouver, Canada with his family. There, he helped his family run a small business before attending the University of British Columbia (UBC). At UBC, Nik studied computer science and earned a bachelor’s degree. Nik has held multiple position in the software industry including Electronic Arts where he worked on NBA Live ‘07 and UBC IT. Nik speciailzed in LAMP and WordPress customizations and launched 3 of his own web 2.0 sites targeted as social networking. Nik moved to the U.S. in 2009 and now works as an operating system graphics engineer at a major software company in the Pacific Northwest. Nik’s hobbies include mountain biking, technology research, programming, staying fit, and eating right.

Contact Us

You can reach Bruce Shankle by email at bruce.shankle<at>sweetdisguise.com by phone at 425-381-1432 or by mail at 12821 NE 185TH Ct., Bothell, WA 98011

You can reach Nik Donets by email at nik.donets<at>sweetdisguise.com

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