High Fructose Corn Syrup: Worse Than We Thought?

High fructose corn syrup, which has long been considered an equivalent to table sugar, might lead those who eat it to gain weight faster.

A Princeton University research team has shown that rats with access to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) gained weight faster than those who ate only sugar -- even when their caloric intake was the same -- according to a study that was published in the journal "Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior."

The study showed that the rats on the HFCS diet gained weight in their abdomen, which can be particularly unhealthy because excess belly fat leads to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancers.

"When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board," Bart Hoebel, who conducted the study and specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction, said in a press release. "Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."

Before you swear off high fructose corn syrup and the foods that contain it, consider this: the American Dietetic Association has long believed that high fructose corn syrup and sugar are equal.

Both sugar and high fructose corn syrup contain a mixture of fructose and glucose. Sugar is made up of half of each, while high fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose, 42 percent glucose and three percent higher saccharides. The fructose molecules in the high fructose corn syrup, however, are unbound, which makes them easier for the body to absorb.

"Although this study suggests that HFCS is more dangerous than sugar, this study does not prove this contention," said Dr. Robert H. Lustig, who is the director for the division of endocrinology at the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program at the University of California at San Francisco. "One problem is they didn't measure liver fat in the animals. Did the high fructose corn syrup animals have higher liver fat than the sucrose animals?"

Still, Lustig believes fructose -- whether consumed as sugar or high fructose corn syrup -- is the carbohydrate most responsible for the recent rise in calorie consumption. Fructose consumption has increased fivefold in the last century and more than doubled in the last 30 years. High fructose corn syrup was introduced 40 years ago. In 1970, about 15 percent of the U.S. population was obese. Today that has risen to about one-third of adults.

Check out how Swiss researchers discovered that a high-fructose diet decreased insulin sensitivity in children.