High Fructose Corn Syrup - Just Like Honey

Posted on Dec 28th 2008 8:00AM by Jacki Donaldson

If you think high fructose corn syrup is evil, then you might want to think the same about plain old sugar and honey.

According to a report from the American Medical Association, the sweetener commonly found in items such as soft drinks is no more to blame for obesity than sugar or other sweeteners, honey included. The AMA is so convinced it doesn't see a need to place warning labels on products containing the stuff.

No need to throw caution to the wind and start chowing down on foods and drinks containing high fructose corn syrup -- the AMA still recommends we limit the amount of all added caloric sweeteners to no more than 32 grams of sugar daily (based on a 2,000 calorie diet).

Think about this: Obesity rates have soared in recent decades. So has the use of high fructose corn syrup. Think there's a connection or just a coincidence?

High Fructose Corn Syrup and Obesity - Connection or Coincidence?
Connection, for sure.	81 (63.8%)
Coincidence. We're eating more calories and exercising less too.	42 (33.1%)
Other -- Tell us in comments.	4 (3.1%)

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Tags: american-medical-association, high-fructose-corn-syrup, honey, jacki-donaldson, soda, sugar

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

missjulied 12-28-2008 @ 12:45PM

Hm, when I read the article, I didn't get that it "is no more to blame for obesity than sugar or other sweeteners, honey included." What they actually SAY is "At the present time, there is insufficient evidence to restrict use"

They're saying that it hasn't been PROVEN to be blamed, not that it's been proven to NOT be blamed.

Basically, the jury's still out, and they're not going to take a stand that there's something wrong with it until they see proof. Which is quite different from them saying they know it's okay.

Natural Selection 12-28-2008 @ 1:32PM

Its a combination of the two choices- eating more caloric sweeteners (usually HFCS) and exercising less.

Christina 12-28-2008 @ 2:23PM

We're eating more and exercising less. People don't let their kids out to just run around and be kids anymore. Schools are cutting PE. People are driving more.

If the number of calories we take in, regardless of their source, is more than we need, we will gain weight. Simple. Better to heed that than to look for a scapegoat in the ingredients.

Natalie 12-28-2008 @ 4:41PM

The problem is that every product that contains high fructose corn syrup is also a nutritionally devoid processed food. So it may not be so much that there's something uniquely fattening about it per se, but it's still a cheap sugar that's in EVERYTHING unless you expressly try to avoid it. There's a big difference between drinking a soda and putting a teaspoon of honey in your tea.

u262f 12-28-2008 @ 6:18PM

That's a good point: Because HFCS is cheap, it might be a symptom of food already being unhealthy rather than the cause of the food becoming unhealthy. Either way, avoiding it (and foods with nutrition labels in general) still sounds like a good idea.

u262f 12-28-2008 @ 6:23PM

The use of nutrition information labels has also soared within recent decades, and I think that's connected to obesity too. In general, I think people would be healthier by just avoiding nutrition information labels. The healthiest foods (such as locally grown fresh vegetables) do not have labels.

Liz 1-05-2009 @ 11:50AM

There was an article this week on Vegfamily.com about the differences and similiarites between High Fructose Corn Syrup, regular sugar and Agave Nectar. Check it out here: http://www.vegfamily.com/whole-family/wholesome-sweeteners.htm

-Liz on behalf of the Corn Refiners Association