Myths About High-Fructose Corn Syrup

As obesity rates climb around the world, nutritionists, politicians and concerned parents continue to turn to and blame diet and unhealthy lifestyles for the epidemic. High-fructose corn syrup has come under fire as one of the leading causes of obesity since 2004 when researchers in North Carolina hypothesized a link between the rise in consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and the rise in obesity across the United Sates. This and other myths have since been dispelled.

Myth 1: High-Fructose Corn Syrup Has More Calories Than Sugar

• Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are nearly identical in their composition: sugar is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, while corn syrup can be anywhere from 42 to 55 percent fructose with the remainder being glucose. Both are carbohydrates and as such contain the same number of calories as most carbohydrates: about four per gram. The reality is that high-fructose corn syrup is no more fattening than regular table sugar.

Myth 2: High-Fructose Corn Syrup Leads to Obesity

• Of course, any diet too high in sugar, fat and calories can contribute to obesity, but consuming high-fructose corn syrup does not increase the risk. Nutritionist Marion Nestle wrote that Americans consumed about 60 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per capita in 2006. It is the volume, not the fact that it was high-fructose corn syrup, that Nestle attributes to climbing obesity: if Americans ate 60 pounds of sugar per capita, obesity would exist at the same alarming rate. As of 2011, there were no peer-reviewed scientific studies that successfully link moderate consumption high-fructose corn syrup to the obesity epidemic.

Myth 3: The Body Metabolizes High-Fructose Corn Syrup Differently Than Sugar

• The body has no problem metabolizing high-fructose corn syrup, and it does not block the ability to feel full, as one myth goes on to state. A study conducted by scientists in the Netherlands in 2007 showed that drinks sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and 1% milk all had similar effects on fullness in the people who consumed them. A similar study by researchers at the University of Toronto in 2007 found that solutions containing high-fructose corn syrup had similar short-term physiological and psychological effects on fullness and appetite as those containing sugar or equal parts of glucose and fructose.

Myth 4: High-Fructose Corn Syrup is Used Instead of Sugar

• While high-fructose corn syrup acts as a sweetener, it is not always used in food and beverages strictly as such. It is used in baked goods to create the appetizing golden-brown crust and enhance the flavor of fruit filling, reduces freezer burn in frozen fruits and vegetables, and preserves the shelf-life of sodas and drinks by balancing acidity and maintaining the flavor. It is not used as a domestic replacement for imported sugar.

Myth 5: High-Fructose Corn Syrup Is Natural

• Most myths surrounding high-fructose corn syrup are spread by those claiming that corn syrup is unhealthy and damaging. But those who support the use of high-fructose corn syrup and its uses are not innocent of spreading false information. The Corn Refiners Association began airing advertisements in 2008 dispelling myths about high-fructose corn syrup while professing that because it comes from corn, it is a natural product. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said this is simply not true in a 2008 Time Magazine article. Jacobson says high-fructose corn syrup starts as cornstarch but is degraded and processed through the use of enzymes until it becomes high-fructose corn syrup. It is not a product that occurs in nature. Jacobson does, however, address that it is still nutritionally identical to table sugar.