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High Fructose Corn Syrup

By , About.com Guide

Updated September 23, 2008

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

Definition:

High-fructose corn syrup is a common sweetener that is used in soft drinks, breakfast cereals, cookies, snacks and many other baked goods.

Like sucrose (table sugar), high-fructose corn syrup is made up of a combination of the sugars fructose and glucose. The main difference is that high-fructose corn syrup is processed to change the ratio of fructose and glucose. Why does that matter? Higher levels of fructose can make high-fructose corn syrup sweeter than sugar.

And although many experts think that fructose is digested the same way that sucrose is in the body, other experts think that high-fructose corn syrup has different effects and may be contributing to the current obesity epidemic. One study, "Dietary Sugars Stimulate Fatty Acid Synthesis in Adults," which appeared in the June 2008 Journal of Nutrition, concluded that fructose gets converted into fat more quickly than glucose.

Whatever you believe, the main warning about high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient in food is that it is a sign that the food has added sugar, which you should likely avoid, whatever the source of the sugar.

Also Known As: HFCS 55 or HFCS 42
Examples:
Eating and drinking a lot of foods with sugar, whether sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, honey or table sugar, will likely raise a child's risk of being overweight.

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