Princeton Researchers say High-Fructose Corn Syrup Does Make You Fat — Let’s see how long before the PR folks for the corn industry block this information.

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, 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. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

Found by Rasvan via Twitter.




  1. CrankyGeeksFan says:

    Background (from a c. 1985 economics telecourse) : High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was invented by a chemist, the mother of HFCS, who worked at Royal Crown. She would eventually work at PepsiCo. HFCS was invented as a cheaper substitute for sugar in soft drinks.

    Mountain Dew Throwback is a bigger improvement over regular Mountain Dew than Pepsi Throwback over Pepsi. Even the bubbling was noticeably different.

    The Dr. Pepper plant in Dublin, TX has only used pure cane sugar for its sweetener – and can put Dr. Pepper in 8 oz. bottles.

    A follow-up experiment would be to alter the concentrations of fructose to glucose in HFCS – 65%:55%, 50%:50%, etc.

    Fructose like glucose is a monosaccharide with a C6H12O6 formula.

    The pictures of the syrup remind me of the drink given to patients for the glucose tolerance test.

  2. raddad says:

    #62, I don’t have time to watch all 1.5 hrs of the video, but I watched enough to get the gist of his message. People are fatter today than in the past. Robert Lustig is pointing the finger at HFCS. I’m a chemist, but I don’t work in nutrition, so I’m not sure if he is correct. However, I’m skeptical just because HFCS is made of two naturally occurring sugars. If fructose in HFCS causes obesity, then we should also avoid most fruits. Fructose is fructose no matter the source.

    Why the epidemic of obesity? My personal opinion is that people are, in general, more affluent than in the past and the relative cost of food is lower so more is consumed.

    One last thing. Some people have expressed concerns about mercury in HFCS. One thing I learned very early in my education is that there is no such thing as absolute chemical purity. I can guarantee you that there is mercury in everything you might eat including HFCS. You could also find small amounts of gold, uranium, lead, etc. The important question is not if it is there (it is), but how much.

  3. Milo says:

    I call corporate whore on PatRD.

  4. ECA says:

    64,
    YES FRUCTOSE IS IN FRUIT, but so is Fiber.
    TONS of fiber..
    Watch the video.

  5. meetsy says:

    #65
    I agree. But, I think he’s a cheap one..

  6. Rick Cain says:

    High Fructose Corn Syrup just doesn’t taste good. The food industry doesn’t seem to care about taste, because we keep voting with our dollars.

    If you want to avoid HFCS, shop at ALDI. Apparently a lot of their food sticks to european food safety standards, so corn syrup is not used in many of their packaged food. Its better quality stuff and yummy in comparison to american-standard packaged foods.


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