HFCS vs Sugar

[Rugby Dad]

what's with all the hype over corn syrup vs cane sugar?
who to believe?

[Sean S]

I don't think there's enough difference to really make any distinction. HFCS is usually 42% or 55% fructose with the rest mostly being glucose, while sugar is a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose. The difference is very small unless you are taking in copious amounts of the stuff. If you are doing that, your problem isn't necessarily the HFCS, but the fact that you are eating a ton of high calorie sugary foods. I haven't seen anything truly compelling that says that HFCS has any detrimental effects vs. sugar independent of total calorie and carbohydrate intake. Most of our dietary related health problems are due to excess calorie and sometimes overall carbohydrate intake.

[Alex.V]

I don't think there's enough difference to really make any distinction. HFCS is usually 42% or 55% fructose with the rest mostly being glucose, while sugar is a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose. The difference is very small unless you are taking in copious amounts of the stuff. If you are doing that, your problem isn't necessarily the HFCS, but the fact that you are eating a ton of high calorie sugary foods. I haven't seen anything truly compelling that says that HFCS has any detrimental effects vs. sugar independent of total calorie and carbohydrate intake. Most of our dietary related health problems are due to excess calorie and sometimes overall carbohydrate intake.

Agreed 100%. There is so much BS pseudoscience around HFCS- people are looking for a scapegoat. Really, the best thing they can do is just put their damn forks down and stop being such slovenly fatasses. HFCS is, for all intents and purposes, identical to table sugar. So what if sucrose is a disaccharide instead of the two monosaccharides in HFCS- amylase works so quickly that this difference is moot.

[Invain]

Belial have you read into the metabolism of fructose much? People always claim fructose can only be used to refill liver glycogen but I've read a few studies that show fructose can be used to refill muscle glycogen directly. I think the rates were slower than glucose but still comparable.

[Rugby Dad]

just lately i been noticing these ads on TV from both sides, or mostly the corn sugar industry

[Daniel Roberts]

Another one of those things that makes no difference unless your diet is mostly soft drinks, just as Sean S and Belial explained.

As for fructose and replenishment of muscle glycogen the liver still needs to deal with it first i.e convert it to glucose.

[Codeguru]

I've been eating and drinking it all my life and I'm beyond healthy compared to anyone I've seen knocking HFCS. Why doesn't someone complain about Hershey's Chocolate Syrup for being a fat free food but woops I just squirted 800-1000 calories on my ice cream? It tastes too good, so it's not my fault! Heh...

Codeguru