High Fructose Corn Syrup Implicated in Obesity

The number one key to healthy eating is to avoid refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup(HFCS).

In results published March 18 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments looking into the connection between the use of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity. They found that high-fructose corn syrup leads to a significantly higher weight gain than regular table sugar, even when overall caloric intake is the same. In addition to causing considerable weight gain in lab tests, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides, which can lead to heart disease. “Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction.

The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States. Beginning in the 1980s, there was a rapid rise of obesity in the United States, which correlates to the introduction of industrial-grade high-fructose corn syrup at the same time. The CDC reports that in the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed. In 1970, about 15 percent of the U.S. population were defined as obese; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the high fructose corn syrup per person every year.

The researchers stated that they do not know why high-fructose corn syrup, (HFCS), led to more triglycerides and more body fat resulting in obesity but think it may be due to an uneven ratio of fructose to glucose when compared to sucrose, or table sugar. Sucrose is comprised of equal parts fructose and glucose (50/50), while typical high-fructose corn syrup has an uneven ratio, usually about 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of high-fructose corn syrup. Because of the manufacturing process for HFCS, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized. The researchers surmise that the excess fructose in HFCS is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.