High-fructose Corn Syrup Vs. Cane Sugar

The debate continues over whether high-fructose corn syrup, used to sweeten a wide variety of foods, from soft drinks to baked goods to meats, causes obesity and other health problems more than regular cane sugar does. Most evidence points to the total amount of sugar consumed in the U.S., especially in the form of soft drinks, rather than high-fructose corn syrup itself, as the culprit. One thing health experts agree on is that Americans should eat less refined sugar of all kinds.

Composition

Despite the name, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is made from cornstarch, contains only slightly more fructose than table sugar. The type of HFCS used most commonly in the United States contains 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Regular cane sugar or beet sugar (beet sugar is used more commonly in the United States) is sucrose, which your body breaks down into glucose and fructose.

HFCS and Obesity

In a commentary that appeared in the April 2004 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Louisiana State University researchers theorized that the obesity epidemic may be linked to the huge increase in the consumption of HFCS over the previous two decades. But the evidence doesn't support that, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which calls the idea that HFCS is more "evil" than regular sugar an urban myth. In March 2010, Princeton University researchers reported that rats fed high-fructose corn syrup in amounts below what would be the equivalent typical consumption in the human diet gained more weight than did rats fed a sucrose-sweetened drink.

Fructose and Health Problems

Studies on fructose have helped give HFCS a bad name. Your body doesn't metabolize fructose and glucose the same way. The liver tends to turn fructose into fats, while the muscles burn glucose for fuel. Scientific studies support the idea that the fructose in sugars (of any kind, not only HFCS) contributes more than glucose does to abdominal fat, raises triglycerides (blood fats) and makes the body less responsive to insulin, wrote University of California researchers in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

Expert Insight

Most mainstream health and consumer groups, including Consumer Reports and the American Medical Association, agree with CSPI that the overall amount of sugar in diets, whether from cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or any other kind of caloric sweetener, is helping to feed the obesity epidemic.

Sugary Drinks

In an article in the March 23, 2010, issue of the journal Circulation, the authors (including two of the authors of the 2004 obesity paper) suggested that sugar-sweetened drinks--in 2006, U.S. kids and adults were averaging around 400 calories a day from sugar-sweetened beverages--are contributing to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and possibly cardiovascular disease. The authors point to several possible reasons, including the fact that sugar-sweetened drinks contribute a high amount of rapidly absorbed carbohydrates, and that beverages don't fill people up as much as solid food does, which means folks don't cut calories at dinner to make up for that big soft drink they had at lunch.