High Fructose Corn Syrup......no, it's not just sugar, and here's the science behind it.
Let's first talk sugars.
Monosaccharides are called simple sugars, and they are the most basic unit of carbohydrates. We know them by names like glucose and fructose. Disaccharides are still considered simple sugars, because they only have two units attached to each other. Polysaccharides are anything more than two units of carbohydrates attached. (Look at the picture below for a visual!)
Normal table sugar is known as sucrose, and it is a disaccharide made up of glucose and fructose in a 50:50 ratio. This is what we're led to believe high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the same as.
Now let's look at HFCS.
The sugars in high fructose corn syrup are extracted in a process resulting in different ratios of glucose to fructose. Normal table sugar is 50:50 glucose:fructose. The most common form of HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. It is very close to the same ratio as normal table sugar.
So what's the fuss?
The difference is in the biochemistry!
In nature, glucose and fructose are bound tightly together to make a table sugar molecule. In HFCS, that bond is missing!
Since there is no chemical bond between them, the normal processes of digestion are not required and the glucose and fructose are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream. The only place fructose can really be metabolized is in the liver, and when the liver is overwhelmed, it tends to immediately start creating fats like triglycerides and cholesterol.
Without the bond, the fructose is known as "free fructose." Free fructose consumption has been continuously linked to higher rates of obesity, increased belly fat, higher levels of triglycerides, cardiovascular disease, and overwhelmingly fatty liver disease. Studies not done by the corn industry don't share the same view that HFCS is "just" sugar.
Chronic consumption of HFCS caused several problems like cardiac and endothelial injury of aorta by hyperuricemia and induced oxidative stress and inflammation.
The impact of high fructose on cardiovascular system: Role of α-lipoic acid.
Consuming beverages containing 10%, 17.5%, or 25% Ereq from HFCS produced dose-dependent increases in circulating lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for CVD and uric acid within 2 weeks.
A dose-response study of consuming high-fructose corn syrup-sweetened beverages on lipid/lipoprotein risk factors for cardiovascular disease in young adults.
When one group of rats was fed sucrose (table sugar) and one group was fed HFCS, the HFCS group was found to have gained significantly more weight even though the rest of the diet remained the same.
“A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain.”
Even though that tiny, missing bond may seem like a small change, it makes a huge difference in how our body metabolizes it. If you're going to be eating sugar, avoid HFCS!
yours in health,
dr samantha boldt
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