High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup. Here we go. The mother load of sweeteners. The sugar ninja. The undercover low-glycemic brother. Corn's crazy cousin. You've probably heard of it. I would be surprised if you haven't; it is in almost every processed food that we eat from bread to soda, and America has been scarfing it down for years. It is super sweet and cheap, and the tongue loves every second of it. So what's wrong with that?

Wouldn't you like to know? The problem with HFCS isn't just that it doesn't occur naturally in our environment; it's the complexity of HFCS itself. Explaining HFCS outside of a conversation is like explaining your favorite Harry Potter book while including every piece of information that's relevant to the story line from every other book. It just goes on and on. In an effort to keep it short and sweet, I will include links to extra information if you want to get familiar.

The History of HFCS
This part is for history buffs. Even though our history effects our present, we need information for today. In short, HFCS was first made available for mass production in 1970 in Japan. It was then introduced in to the US food market in 1975. For more information on that, check out Wikipedia's page: HFCS.

What is HFCS?
This is where it gets juicy! Let's break down the word itself: High-Fructose Corn Syrup. What is Fructose? Fructose is the sugar that naturally appears in fruit! So how is something high fructose? The normal sugar (sucrose) compound is 50% Fructose and 50% Glucose. If Fructose is the mooching friend that's been crashing on your couch since 2008, Glucose would be the guy who pays the bills. It can be used by any living organism in the world from the lowly amoeba to your brain cells. You get high-fructose when you get more couch-crashers than money makers.

Let's move on to corn. Mmm. Corn. Unfortunately, this isn't the same corn you and I are on good terms with. Cheap, modified corn is often used to make this sweet treat. HFCS uses corn starch. The corn starch goes through a process to become corn syrup (That would be the last word in our breakdown)! Enzymes are added to the syrup to turn part of it's glucose into fructose creating a 45% - 55% fructose to glucose ratio. 45% doesn't necessarily seem high enough, does it? Good news! The syrup is purified to 90% fructose! Fructose 90 doesn't usually appear on shelves. Fructose 90 and fructose 45 are mixed to create fructose 55 (%) which is the main form of HFCS in our processed foods.

Why even make HFCS?
Oh the irony! Despite the process of making HFCS, it is actually cheaper to process than any other sweetener! Here's the double-whammy: it is also sweeter. Fructose is sweet. Really sweet. Check the sweetness scale here. Glucose rates 75 on average. Fructose rates 140, nearly twice as sweet. For a food company, HFCS is the Holy Grail of sweeteners. If you read our earlier blog Is Sugar Addictive, you may agree that sweetness has addictive qualities.

Let's role play for a moment. Let's say you are on the Board of Directors for Coca-Cola and sales are fine, but, well, you and your friends like money. Suddenly, there is a product that is cheaper than the one you are using, and it's better tasting! You would have to be crazy to pass up on this game changer. Would you use it? After all, you can save money even by using a little less of it (since it's sweeter), but you can make more by adding in more. Ah, the refreshing sound of profit.

What's wrong with HFCS?

Coke drinks sold per day! Picture from CNBC

Let's continue with the role play. So now you're making tons of cash. Sales are up and up. However, a few decades later, a couple of people start complaining about things like insulin resistance, obesity, liver damage, and so on. Somehow, they've linked it to your soda. Specifically this new HFCS you've been using. You put a team on it to investigate, but what do you do in the meantime? Do you keep it in the product, or do you go "retro." Of course! Switch back to regular sugar! If they think this new HFCS is bad, they'll think the old sugar is "good!" Brilliant!

While Coca-Cola and the other guys go back to their sugar cane "roots," let's visit the problems behind HFCS that gave rise to public discontent. Unfortunately, the problem is biological. The human body has a hard time processing unnatural fructose. "Hold up. You said fructose was in fruit. Is fruit bad for you?" No, of course not. Fruit contains "free fructose," or fructose with fiber, which is absorbed in the large intestine. Through a little biological magic, the fructose is fermented by colonic flora (bacteria) and removed from the body. Processed fructose (sucrose, HFCS) is absorbed in the small intestine and sent to the liver. This is where the trouble begins.

To make a long story short, the fructose is turned into fat and stored in the liver causing it to look much like cirrhosis. Diets high in fructose are also linked with gout, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance, also known as metabolic syndrome. Additionally, HFCS doesn't trigger a "full" feeling. I will not go into detail about these issues because they are rather complex. However, DR. Robert Lustig will. You can view his lecture on Youtube.

Where is HFCS?

That would be the million dollar question. What are you eating that has HFCS in it? Well, if it is bread, soda, sports drinks, candy, or even cereal, you're probably eating HFCS. How can you know for sure? Refer back to "Dextran, Maltose, Turbinado, Galactose, and Sorbitol" Could these be the new Transformers? Read the labels! A product with HFCS in it will usually refer to it by name. However, it may also be referred to as just "corn syrup." Refer to this list for some specific products that contain HFCS: www.accidentalhedonist.com. Keep in mind that this list stopped keeping track in 2008 because the number of products was overwhelming. And, as always, your best bet to avoid these products is to educate yourself and eat local, organic, unprocessed foods! If you have questions about this topic, please post in our comment section!

PS. Blue Agave is not a health food. It can sometimes contain 75% fructose. Sorry.

Written by Robert Marshall