The Chemistry Behind High Fructose Corn Syrup

12/02/2014

Are you wondering what the differences are between high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sugar? Is agave nectar really better for you? What about honey? We took a dive into the chemistry behind high fructose corn syrup with Ruth MacDonald, PhD, RD, and Chair of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University.

We have recently addressed this topic, looking at a few other angles. We have looked into HFCS and found that it is a natural product that is used as a sweetening ingredient with calories, just like any other sweeteners. We also wondered if HFCS as an ingredient is a major cause of obesity in the United States. The answer is false – there is no metabolic, nutritional or chemical reason to assign unique responsibility to HFCS. Finally, we looked to see if real cane sugar is healthy and found that when it comes down to it, sugar by any other name is…sugar.