I am totally not a chemist, but from what I can understand, high fructose corn syrup is created when regular corn syrup goes through some kind of chemical process to change it's molecular structure from glucose to fructose. Then it's mixed with more regular corn syrup (which is made of fructose) to make a sweet syrup. Please don't ask me how corn syrup gets made from corn....I have no idea.
So anyways, there's been a ton of debate about whether or not high fructose corn syrup is worse for you from than regular sugar, which is typically in the sucrose form. In fact, if you do any sort of scholarly search you'll find a myriad of articles either saying that it's totally fine or that it's the worst thing ever invented. So who to believe? Well it's hard to say.
A few years ago, the American Medical Association released a report saying that they did not feel strongly that high fructose corn syrup contributed to obesity more than sucrose. Even a very publicized 2004 study showed that while there did seem to be an association between high fructose corn syrup and obesity, it was unclear if it was a direct cause. And just the other day, a study from Princeton was released that showed that rats who ate high fructose corn syrup had a greater weight gain than rats who ate table sugar, even if they consumed the same overall calories. (see below for a funny aside about rats)
So with all this conflicting information, what's a girl (or guy) to do? Well, as always, I'm no expert, but I'd say that avoiding high fructose corn syrup is probably a good thing to do. But that's easier said than done--it's in EVERYTHING. Seriously, soda, juice drinks, candy, salad dressing, and bread...really bread. So for me personally, I try not to buy or consume too many things with high fructose corn syrup, but I don't stress too much about the occasional soda or food that slips by.
But obviously, this points to the fact that we need more research about that factors that contribute to obesity. The Tufts President's Marathon Challenge, which I am so honored to be a part of, is raising money that will fund this important research so that we will not only better understand how things like high fructose corn syrup contribute to obesity, but how we can intervene to curb obesity in this country. You can help me out by sponsoring me at: http://www.tuftsmarathonchallenge.com/runners/miriamst
So what do you all think about high fructose corn syrup? Is it something you work to avoid, or something you don't think much about? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And for a parting note, one of my most favorite TV shows, The West Wing has a hillarious scene about doing medical research in white rats. Here you go:
The Surgeon General: Let me tell you something, I'm not a hundred percent sure we've ruled that out.
Just a little something to brighten your day :)
3 comments:
High Fructose corn syrup has the amazing ability to convert partially into FAT via a highly complex biochemichal pathway. It also affects some of our appetite regulators in our brain so we don't feel full and want to eat more.
Mir, I love your blog!
The debate about the safety of HFCS is heated.
Biochemically, fructose (a single sugar molecule) is pretty similar similar to sucrose (a molecule made of two sugar molecules: 1 fructose and 1 glucose), so when you're eating regular sugar, you're actually getting fructose, you just get more with HFCS (but not a lot more). It is true, that the liver has a way to process glucose which is different than the way the body handles fructose, and it is shuttled into storage as fat. Along with this difference (which affects blood sugar regulation and may affect appetite that way) fructose has been implicated in affecting appetite regulating hormones. Research into the effects of fructose on appetite is still ongoing, but the article you point to about rats is certainly interesting. However, I do think it's possible that the effects of HFCS on obesity risk may not be coming from the effect of fructose on the body (mostly because I think the amount of extra fructose is relatively small). HFCS does, however, make foods taste sweeter, and I think it may give us a greater preference for sweet taste (this along with all the other fake sweeteners we encounter), which may be affecting our intake.
I do want to point out that since the 2004 article from Barry Popkin that you cited, he has changed his mind (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-08-fructose-corn-syrup_N.htm) about the difference in the obesigenic effects of HFCS relative to sugar. This was primarily in response to an interesting supplement to the 2008 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol 88 No 6) which had an interesting summary on a lot of research on this topic.
All that being said, the health affects, aside from the risk of obesity, from HFCS have not been studied as thoroughly, and are still being investigated. Though I'm not sure we'll find that they're necessarily worse than sugar. Perhaps better to try to avoid added sweeteners, rather than HFCS specifically, but that is obviously easier said than done.
Mom-I think that's what the Princeton study was looking at, the ability of HFCSto turn into fat, that's why the rats gained more weight...or something...I don't know much about the appetite regulators, I'd heard that about artificial sweeteners though.
Rach--I agree we definitely don't know enough about the effects of HFCS. And since it's really in so many things, we should probably learn more about it. It's definitely making food much sweeter and giving us an appetite for sweeter food.
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