Is high fructose corn syrup the second “great invention” of the food industry that harms humanity?

Real points:

Fructose corn syrup is one of the most commonly used raw materials in food, and it can be said that it is closely related to us. Excessive intake of it is indeed harmful to health, but this harm is not much different from other sugars that people usually consume.

Verified by: Yun Wuxin | Doctor of Food Engineering

Recently, an article circulated online said, "It turns out that the health killer that is more terrible than white sugar and alcohol is this! - Fructose corn syrup." The article listed various harms of fructose corn syrup to human health, saying that it is more harmful to health than ordinary edible sugar, and that fructose corn syrup is the second "great invention" of the food industry after trans fatty acids that harms mankind. At first glance, most people may feel a little strange about the name of fructose corn syrup, thinking that it is far away from their lives, but in fact, fructose corn syrup is one of the most commonly used raw materials in food, and it can be said to be closely related to us. So what exactly is it? What kind of impact does it have on health? Can it really be called a "health killer"?

1. Fructose corn syrup is not a food additive, but a food raw material

Many people call high fructose corn syrup "artificial sweetener" or "sweetening additive", which is inaccurate. High fructose corn syrup is a processed food ingredient.

Fructose corn syrup is processed from starch, usually corn starch, which is cheap. Starch is a large molecule composed of many glucose molecules connected together. By using amylase or high acid and high temperature to cut (hydrolyze) the starch molecules, maltose, glucose and other substances can be obtained.

High fructose corn syrup is the "conversion" of glucose obtained by hydrolyzing starch. Under the action of glucose isomerase, the configuration of some glucose molecules changes and is converted into fructose. The resulting mixture of glucose and fructose is "high fructose corn syrup", abbreviated as HFCS, also commonly known as "high fructose corn syrup".

Depending on the production process and control standards, high fructose corn syrup has different ratios, such as the common F42, F55 and F90, which contain 42%, 55% and 90% fructose respectively.

Fructose syrup is a liquid with good fluidity, easy to dissolve in production, and cheap. Moreover, its sweet taste is a bit refreshing, and the flavor of beverages is even better than sucrose. Good flavor, easy to use, and cheap make it very popular in the modern food industry and widely used in various foods.

2. Excessive intake of fructose corn syrup is indeed harmful to health, but the harm is not much different from that of ordinary sucrose.

After the 1980s, the use of high fructose corn syrup became more and more widespread in the United States. At the same time, the obesity rate, high blood lipids, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. in the American population also increased. A large number of epidemiological surveys have shown that high fructose corn syrup is closely related to this. Excessive intake of high fructose corn syrup is indeed harmful to health.

There is nothing wrong with the conclusion that "excessive intake of high fructose corn syrup is harmful to health", but what many people are concerned about is: compared with ordinary table sugar - sucrose, is high fructose corn syrup more harmful to health?

Both fructose syrup and sucrose are composed of glucose and fructose. A sucrose molecule contains one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule, so the ratio of the two is exactly 1:1. After being consumed, sucrose is quickly broken down into glucose and fructose in the digestive tract, and the only difference from fructose syrup is the ratio.

The most commonly used fructose syrups in food are F42 and F55. The former contains a little less fructose than glucose, while the latter contains a little more fructose than glucose, but the difference is not big. The ratio of fructose to glucose is basically the same as that in sucrose. So from a practical point of view, it can be considered that the effects of fructose syrup and sucrose on health are not significantly different.

However, some scholars believe that the glucose and fructose in fructose syrup are "free", while the two are "bound" in sucrose, and this difference makes fructose syrup more harmful. In 2010, Bartley Hoebel and others from Princeton University published a study showing that "compared with sucrose, high fructose syrup with the same calories makes mice gain more weight", supporting this speculation. However, the results of an animal experiment are not enough to "confirm" this conclusion, especially since no other studies have repeated this conclusion since then, and there are no human experiments to further verify it. At present, the scientific community generally still believes that "fructose syrup is not good for health, but it is not worse than sucrose."

3. Is high fructose corn syrup the second “great invention” of the food industry that harms humanity?

The online article also claimed that "high fructose corn syrup is the second 'great invention' of the food industry that is harmful to humanity after trans fatty acids", which is really an exaggeration.

As a "sugar" obtained through modern industrial processing, fructose corn syrup has lower cost, is more convenient to use, and has better flavor in many foods. It is a good choice to replace sucrose in many kinds of foods. Compared with obtaining sucrose by growing sugarcane and beets, fructose corn syrup is definitely an excellent invention.

As for the impact on health, it has been mentioned earlier that excessive intake of high fructose corn syrup is no more harmful than other sugars, so there is no need to single out high fructose corn syrup for analysis and label it as a "great invention that harms mankind."

The reason why some people think that high fructose corn syrup is a "health killer" for modern people is because it is cheap and easy to obtain, and people eat too much of it.

The World Health Organization and various countries regard "sugar reduction" as one of the basic principles of healthy eating, targeting "free sugars" or "added sugars", which refers to all sugars that are quickly absorbed into the blood and increase blood sugar, including common sugars such as white sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar, honey, etc., and do not take "extra precautions" against high fructose corn syrup.

In short, excessive intake of fructose corn syrup is indeed harmful to health, but this harm is not much different from other sugars that people usually consume. For the sake of health, it is the right choice to reduce sugar intake as much as possible. The "sugar" that needs to be reduced includes fructose corn syrup and various other sugars.

Editor of this article: yutonggliu