HFCS
Sources
Scientific American
Links rat study as only source
13 years old
Everything Everywhere
No sources linked
History
Became popular in the 80s
Didn't take off immediately
Invented as a more robust source of sugar
What is it?
Advantages over sucrose
Sweeter
Cheaper
Easier to handle
55% Fructose 42% Glucose
More fructose than typical sucrose
How is fructose different?
Yields more ATP
Metabolizes in the liver
Some other substances
Controversy
Extreme prevalence in our diet makes it hard to get rid of
Correlation to obesity, heart disease, cancer
Frequently blamed for obesity
Included in almost all food products
Production
Similar method of production to ethanol
Enzymes that break corn syrup into pure fructose
System to convert glucose found in corn starch into fructose
Obesity
What causes different monosaccharides and disaccharides to be better or worse for us?
Different metabolization/enzymes used?
Excess glucose in our bodies is converted into fat, which is why HFCS gets blamed for obesity
Is everyone getting fatter in general, or is it because of HFCS?
Rat Study
Results
HFCS responsible for obesity?
Issues
Inconsistent test groups
Doesn't address mechanism
Total calorie intake not measured
Inconsistent results
