Last year the Corn Refiner’s Association spent oodles of cash (and I mean oodles) to get us to believe that high fructose corn syrup is nothing to fear, but what does it really do to our bodies?
I interviewed Fat Head 
- “If you look at what High Fructose Corn Syrup does, it actually has almost identical affects on your liver as drinking alcohol, which is why kids and young people are ending up with fatty liver disease.”
- “I would like to say that if you just avoid soda pop you’re OK, but that’s unfortunately not true. It’s certainly a big portion of the HFCS in the modern diet, but if you just walk up and and down the grocery store aisles and look at labels, you’ll be stunned at how often you see high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. You can pull a loaf of bread off the shelves and the odds are at least 50/50 that you’ll see high fructose corn syrup in your bread, you’ll see it in all kinds of snacks and all kinds of processed foods.”
- Quoting Dr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, “If you have a child and you would not give that child a beer, why would you give him a soda with high fructose corn syrup? It’s essentially going to have the same affect on his liver.” (That quote is from Dr. Lustig's now famous “Sugar, the Bitter Truth” video, which I've embedded here – it's long but SO worth it.)
- “There was a study done looking at rats, one group eating food sweetened with regular sugar, and the other group eating the same amount of calories, but their food was sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. The rats that had their food sweetened with HFCS got fatter on the same number of calories.”
Tom & I also discussed these questions:
- What about just “corn syrup”?
- What about “corn syrup solids”?
- How does he feel about the term “only in moderation”?
- What does he think of the commercials that tried to get people to believe it was ‘no different than regular sugar'?
This was a sneak peek at one of the interviews from the Real Food for Rookies Class. <– Free at that link!
Watch a video where I tell you about my food conversion story and why I wanted to offer this class:
jenna Food WIth Kid Appeal says
the karo site says “Corn syrup contains between 15% to 20% dextrose (glucose) and a mixture of various other types of sugar. ”
What are the “various other types of sugar”? maria, if i recall dr. lustig said sucrose and fructose were equally “toxic” but glucose was not (or less so). if that’s the case it seems a 100% glucose sweetener would be a good choice. is there such a thing as 100% organic glucose syrup? what is organic brown rice syrup?
Maria says
Thank you Cynthia, that’s exactly what I would like to know.
I try to limit my sugar intake anyway. So, I won’t be using a lot of corn syrup or corn syrup solids 🙂
I ‘d just like to know the truth.
Although, it seems like pure unadulterated organic corn syrup would be OK to use in recipes occasionally, right? Or is it better to avoid it anyway and use honey or maple syrup instead?
Cynthia 1770 says
Hi,
I see there is a little confusion.
HFCS:
The carbohydrate in corn, the corn we eat on the cob and that is used in making all types of “corn syrups”, is composed of long chains of the simple sugar glucose.
When corn is refined to make corn syrup , two enzymatic steps are needed to break down the long chains of glucose in to the single molecules of glucose. The first enzymatic step breaks down the longer chains into shorter chains. The second step breaks the shorter chains into single molecules of glucose. At this
point the corn syrup is 100% glucose. If HFCS is desired, the glucose is treated
with one more enzyme to convert the glucose to fructose. The corn refiners then
blend the glucose syrup and the fructose syrup to meet their specifications.
According to the CRA, HFCS-42 (42% fructose) and HFCS-55 (55% fructose) are the
two main HFCS used in foods and beverages.
Corn syrup solids:
Corn syrup may be dehydrated to remove the water. According to Cargill, (one of the producers of HFCS) if corn syrup contains less than 10% liquid it is considered to be “corn syrup solids”
Now the questions is does the ingredient, corn syrup solids, mean a derivative of pure corn (glucose) syrup solids or does it mean a derivative of “high fructose corn syrup solids?” Originally, corn syrup solids meant glucose syrup solids; however, I do not know if “corn syrup solids” currently includes “HFCS solids”
I’ll try and find out.
Cynthia
glucose syrup. HFCS is
Maria says
My previous comment was in reply to comment #8. I don’t know why it didn’t post right below it.
However, after doing some more research it looks like corn syrup solids are manufactured from corn syrup liquid through a process that just removes 97% of the water from the liquid to make essentially a corn syrup powder. So, it seems to me that Corn syrup solids are dextrose(glucose) sugar, and high fructose corn syrup is fructose sugar, so they are not the same.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Maria says
I thought he said that “corn syrup solids” and HFCS are the same.
“corn syrup solids” is not the same as corn syrup as far as I understand. Or am I wrong?
Cynthia 1770 says
Hi Jenny,
Thank you Jenny for pointing out that inaccuracy. You are correct. I looked at my bottle of Corn Syrup which is about 25 years old and it indeed says that it has one ingredient, corn syrup (glucose syrup). I went to the store and looked at a current bottle of Karo Light Corn Syrup.
Today’s corn syrup has been aldulterated with HFCS. Which means that
they are stretching corn syrup with HFCS. This means the extender they are
using is “sweeter” than pure glucose syrup. Why would they want to do that?
The enzymatic conversion of glucose to fructose is the expensive step in the
industrial production of HFCS. Why would they want to make it sweeter when
the corn syrup (pure glucose syrup) of yesteryear worked for my mother and my grandmother.
Any ideas?
Cynthia Papierniak
Jenny says
“Corn syrup = 100% gluocse. That bottle of Karo Corn Syrup your mom added
to pecan pie is 100% glucose.”
Not according to their website…
https://www.karosyrup.com/faq.html
I wouldn’t use corn syrup (or HFCS) regardless….it’s going to be made with GMO corn.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Cynthia, WOW, I am SO using that info in my Rookie class on sweeteners.
I’ll email you with another question…
Cynthia 1770 says
Hi,
My google alert for HFCS picked up your post. Good reading. I scurry around websites to make sure the carbohydrate descriptions are accurate.
Corn syrup = 100% gluocse. That bottle of Karo Corn Syrup your mom added
to pecan pie is 100% glucose.
HFCS is a blend of fructose and glucose. In food stuffs it can be of several
variants. The Corn Refiners Assoc (CRA) claims to use HFCS-42 for baked and dairy products and HFCS-55
for sweetened beverages (soda). Although the ratios seem similar to sucrose
they are not, especially with respect to HFCS-55.
HFCS-55 is 55%:45% frutose. 55%:45% = 55/45 = 1.22.
This means that in every American Coke there is, compared to glucose, 22%
more fructose. We have been inundated with excess fructose ever since
1984 when Big Soda, Coke and Pepsi, switched to HFCS-55. Look at the Obesity and HFCS graph. Note how obesity really starts climbing inafter 1984.
Also, some readers and the CRA say that the fructose: glucose ratio in honey
is approx the same as in HFCS-55. The CRA is pulling a fast one
According to Wikipedia:
Honey:
Fructose 38.2% (apparent F/G = 1.22, close to HFCS-55)
Glucose 31.3%
Sucrose 1.3%
Maltose 7.1%
However, Sucrose is a disaccharide of fructose and glucose 1:1
and Maltose is a disaccharide of glucose
so the resultant breakdown of honey is:
Fructose 38.2 + 0.65 = 38.85 F/G = 38.85/39.05 = 0.99 ~ 1.0
Glucose = 31.3 + 0.65 + 7.1 = 39.05
Mother Nature seems to like that ratio!
Working to get the HFCS-out,
Cynthia Papierniak, M.S.
Natural Health Goodies says
that was in response to Flo’s comment about honey bees being force-fed HFCS (nested comments don’t work on my blog either 🙂 its on my to-do list)
Natural Health Goodies says
why why why! It is really getting ridiculous what food producers are doing to our food – it makes me sick. And everyone else…
Anna says
Speaking of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease, which can lead to liver cirrhosis, celiac and wheat gluten intolerance also can contribute to liver cirrhosis (gluten can cause damage in places other than the GI tract). There’s another great audio interview about that to listen to after you listen to the smart and funny Tom Naughton – https://www.naturallyknockedup.com/2010/09/07/silent-cause-of-infertility/
Anna says
One of the theories about why HFCS appears to be worse than sucrose, aka cane sugar (whether evaporated or refined), which is 50% glucose/50% fructose and isn’t *that* much different than HFCS in terms of glucose/fructose content) is that in HFCS the glucose and fructose monosaccharide molecules are not bound together, so when they hit the GI they immediately go their separate ways for metabolism instead of the slight delay necessary to break the molecular bond in the sucrose disaccharide.
Nonetheless, cane sugar isn’t innocuous, either (refined or not). Once only available to the nobles and royals, after supply increased with colonial expansion (sugar plantations), prices dropped and consumption in the masses increased. The rising rate of cane sugar consumption since 1500 and particularly since 1900 is parallel to the rise in a variety of “Western” illnesses (chronic, degenerative diseases of civilization) that have spread ’round the world. It’s another drug that comes in a white powder with an addiction factor that is hard to appreciate while still consuming it.
Flo says
My mom died from pancreatic cancer. She tried to eat in a healthy way so I don’t know how she ended up with that particular disease. Maybe this had a part in it. Thanks for sharing, Ali.
Zach says
that video by Robert Lustig was awesome
Kristie says
LOL! I listened to the audio…..apparently I didn’t listen very well!
Thanks!!!
KitchenKop says
He talks about this in the audio interview! But basically, yes.
Kristie says
Are Corn Syrup and HFCS the same thing?
Ali says
Plus, there was a study out that fructose causes cancer cells in the pancreas at twice the rate than when they are fed glucose. The way HFCS is processed assists the cancer cells in breaking it down for fuel more efficiently.
Definitely another reason to eliminate it! It’s in so many things now, you practically can’t have it in moderation if you buy store products, rather than making your own.
KitchenKop says
Jenny, good point, as with all sugar, but anything less processed is always a better choice. 🙂
Flo, crappy carumba! What next?!!
Jenny says
I totally agree, raw honey is wonderful…but it can still make you fat.
Mrs. Graham Gardens says
Raw Honey is lovely. But I agree with Jenny. Refined or not, honey is awful hard on the blood sugars.
Love the info about HFCS, Kelly!
Flo says
Kelly,
Have you heard anything about honey bees being force-fed HFCS? So it can BE in our honey if it’s not from the right sources? Here’s just one link: https://www.thefitshack.com/2007/08/31/high-fructose-corn-syrup-and-honey-a-sneaky-relationship/. Thanks for all your info — you’re great!
KitchenKop says
Jenny, and yet raw honey isn’t heated or processed at all and has some health benefits (especially when purchased locally), whereas HFCS is SUPER processed and rotten.
jenna Food WIth Kid Appeal says
i was shocked to learn that corn syrup solids were in most infant formulas! so sad. i know breast-feeding isn’t a reality for every mother/child and it’s sad those mothers don’t have a better (mainstream) choice available.
Jenny says
Yup…and honey is slightly HIGHER in excess fructose than HFCS…agave is even higher still.