Sweet Surprise

Comprehensive scientific review in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition refutes the sweetener's unique link to obesity

A supplement in the December 2008 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that reviews the history and development of high fructose corn syrup finds no scientific support for the hypothesis that high fructose corn syrup is causally linked to obesity in the United States or globally any more or less than other caloric sweeteners.

Following a symposium that brought together scientific leaders on this topic from varying backgrounds, including former high fructose corn syrup critics who had earlier expressed concern that high fructose corn syrup might pose unique problems, a consensus is emerging that this sweetener is in fact indistinguishable from sucrose in its metabolic effects.

According to Victor Fulgoni, Symposium Chair, in his summary of the presented papers, "Thus, we now have a clearer picture about HFCS; namely, metabolic responses are similar to sucrose as would be expected from the composition of these two sweeteners."

"This symposium exposes the crux of confusion about high fructose corn syrup: it is a case of mistaken identity between two sweeteners," said Audrae Erickson, President of the Corn Refiners Association. "Many confuse pure 'fructose' with 'high fructose corn syrup,' a sweetener that never contains fructose alone, but always in combination with a roughly equivalent amount of a second sugar (glucose). Recent studies that have examined pure fructose -- often at abnormally high levels -- have been inappropriately applied to high fructose corn syrup and have caused significant consumer confusion."

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