High-fructose corn syrup, a popular sweetener, isn’t the villain it’s often portrayed as, with research to back up its “innocence.”

Many of us know something about high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), having heard something about it in the news. It is, after all, an ingredient that has been the subject of some controversy, due to an unproven theory that HFCS is partially responsible for the current obesity crisis. But much of what we’ve been told is not accurate.

HFCS Top 10
In this column, I’ve listed the top-10 misconceptions about HFCS and what the latest research shows about this product:

Myth: High-fructose corn syrup is high in fructose.
Truth: The name “high-fructose corn syrup” has unfortunately misled many, including scientists writing on the subject. The name “high-fructose corn syrup” was coined in the 1970s as a means of distinguishing this new product of the corn wet milling industry from “regular” corn syrup, a long-established glucose-based food ingredient containing no fructose. 

In retrospect, it would have been wiser for the industry to adopt a name that better described the composition of high-fructose corn syrup: approximately half fructose and half glucose, similar to sugar and honey.

Myth: HFCS, corn syrup and fructose are the same, while sucrose (sugar) is different.
Truth: HFCS, corn syrup and fructose are different ingredients, each with its own U.S. standard of identity and unique physical, functional and metabolic properties.  Commercial fructose – used in highly specialized applications – is pure crystalline fructose. Corn syrup contains only glucose and polymers of glucose. HFCS contains glucose and fructose in a nearly 1:1 ratio, similar to sucrose (sugar), honey and some fruits and juices.

Myth: HFCS contains more calories than sugar.   
Truth: All nutritive (caloric) sweeteners — sucrose, HFCS, honey and fruit juice concentrates — have an equal number of calories: 4 calories per gram.  

Myth: High-fructose corn syrup is to blame for obesity.
Truth: Obesity is increasing around the world, even though the use of HFCS outside of the United States is limited or nonexistent. In fact, recent research shows no difference between sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup for several metabolic markers of obesity: serum glucose and insulin responses; leptin and ghrelin [so-called obesity hormones]; triglyceride and uric acid production; and satiety [feeling of fullness after a meal].

Of course, many factors contribute to obesity, but the chief cause is too many calories consumed and too few calories burned.

Myth: HFCS is metabolized differently from sugar.
Truth: Sugar, HFCS, honey and some fruits and juices are composed of nearly equal amounts of fructose and glucose. Though the absorption of the latter differs somewhat from sucrose, the human body cannot distinguish these sweeteners from one another once they reach the bloodstream.  

The argument that fructose and glucose use different metabolic pathways is moot, since all fructose/glucose-containing nutritive sweeteners feed the same sugars at the same ratios into the same metabolic pathways within the same timeframe.

Myth: HFCS is unnatural, while sugar and honey are natural.
Truth: All three nutritive sweeteners require some degree of separation and refining technology in order to make them suitable for human consumption. Many of the processes used to make HFCS are also used to produce other foods and ingredients that are considered natural. HFCS contains no artificial or synthetic materials or color additives, and it meets the Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines for natural food ingredients.

Myth: HFCS is sweeter than sugar.
Truth: This is completely false. HFCS-55 was intentionally developed to exhibit equal sweetness to sucrose, so that the substitution of sucrose by HFCS in foods and beverages would be identical. In other words, HFCS was specifically designed to taste as sweet as sugar.

Myth: Sugar is “better for you” than HFCS.
Truth: There is absolutely no data to support this premise.  Both sweeteners have received the same clean bill of health from every expert body to have evaluated their impact on human health over the past four decades.

Myth: HFCS is genetically modified.
Truth: While corn is used to produce HFCS, it may or may not be genetically modified. Corn DNA is removed during processing; it cannot be detected in measurable amounts in HFCS.

Myth: HFCS is the dominant added sweetener.
Truth: Not exactly. Though sucrose was substantially displaced as high fructose corn syrup gained market share, sucrose remains the most-consumed nutritive sweetener. In the United States, sucrose and HFCS are consumed in nearly equal amounts. Worldwide, however, HFCS accounts for only about 8 percent of total added sweetener. In short, the world of sweeteners is dominated by sugar.
    
Sweet Relief
Surprised that all of these sometimes totally unfounded myths have been spreading? You’re not alone. The sad fact is that a distressing amount of information about HFCS is simply inaccurate or incomplete. It’s based on errors of fact, mistaken identity and improper extrapolation of experimental data.

Fortunately, some are stamping out food myths such as those linked to HFCS. For example, NBC’s “Today Show” recently aired a segment on “nutrition myths.” Listed first was the myth that high-fructose corn syrup causes obesity, which was a sweet success in the plight to educate the media and consumers.

John S. White, Ph.D, is the president of White Technical Research, based in Argenta, Ill. He has researched nutritive sweeteners – including high-fructose corn syrup, sugar and honey –  for more than 25 years. He can be reached at 217-795-4437.