I found this short article on Beverage World...

"A study on high fructose corn syrup published in Nutrition Today states that the composition, sweetness, absorption and metabolism of high fructose corn syrup is similar to sucrose. The study by Marilyn Schorin, PhD, RD, FADA, reviewed existing literature concerning HFCS, particularly HFCS’ effects on body weight and appetite. Nutrition Today published two HFCS studies by the author. Part 1, published in the November/December 2005 issue, reported on the composition, consumption and metabolism of HFCS and found no difference in any of these factors between HFCS and sucrose. Part 2 appeared in the March/April 2006 edition. The study concluded that HFCS does not have a unique effect on health. Many health advocates and scientists contend that HFCS is directly linked to obesity."

Pretty interesting...so they found HFCS to be no worse than regular table sugar...it acts the same in the body, is metabolised the same, etc. etc.

Makes you wonder why there is such a negative feeling about it doesn't it? I personally worry more about artificial sweeteners and the the chemicals they combine to make sugar free beverages.

You hear of studies stating both sides on HFCS. Or corn sludge as I call it. (Maybe 7-Up bought this study so they could get out of the "All Natural" lawsuit.... heh) So it makes you wonder who is right.

I'v had HFCS on my mind because I just read something else that mentioned it. Sci-Fi writer Orson Scott Card writes a weekly column for his local paper in which he reviews movies and consumer products, etc. In his latest one he mentiones how he's decided to give up HFCS. You can read it here (down past his review of Pirates of the Carib. part 2)


http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/e...06-07-09.shtml

here's a snip from it:

....
Of course, I soon learned how to gain weight even on a salad-heavy diet. Especially, though, I gained whenever I traveled. I get the munchies whether I'm driving or flying or riding the train -- something about being on a journey makes me need to be chomping something almost continuously. If I ignore those cravings, they don't go away.

So I became intimately familiar with the snack food section of all the convenience stores, airports, gas stations, and grocery stores along US 220, US 29, I-85, I-95, I-81, and I-40.

I tried to eat "healthy" snacks. You know ... Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies instead of Chips Ahoy, peanut butter Ritz Bits instead of powdered-sugar mini-doughnuts. I never succumbed to the temptation of chocolate milk, my dietary bete noir; instead I drank V-8.

And all the while, I was sabotaging myself because of one simple ingredient: high fructose corn syrup.

In Mark Hyman's book Ultra Metabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss, I finally got the clear explanation I needed of why corn syrup was destroying me.

Sugar is sugar, I had always thought. Besides, the people who went on and on about the evils of corn syrup were obviously those who were following some kind of dietary religion -- I simply tuned them out.

But fructose is not just sugar. In nature, fructose comes from (of course) fruit -- but in its natural state, it's bound in with fibers and other nutrients so it doesn't digest so quickly.

When the fructose is completely purified, though, it goes straight to the cells of your body without needing to react with insulin. Very efficient. Except all that insulin your body created to deal with the fructose has no place to go. So it stays in your bloodstream in ever higher concentrations, signaling your brain that you really need sugar.

So yes, you got a jolt of sugar energy from that fructose -- but it makes you hungry for more almost immediately.

And high fructose corn syrup shows up almost everywhere. Like catsup, Manwich sloppy joe sauce, Home Made ice cream, and of course every single one of the snack foods I ate on trips when I had the munchies.

I put that in the past tense because I'm changing. Nothing gradual about it. Both artificial sweeteners and corn syrup are leaving the house. OK, not all of it -- I'm going to finish that Home Made chocolate chip ice cream. But the only soft drinks I'm keeping are the Knudsen Family juice spritzers I reviewed a few weeks ago.

You simply have to consider the bias of the source in any study, just like contextual interpretation. There is probably a bias of trying to prove, rather than objective study here. I agree that artificial sweeteners are more of a problem, however there are still issues with HFCS and its current mainstream usage. The author is a member of a Food Technologists association, already biased toward protecting non-naturally occurring food products, but also a nutritionist for a company highly linked to products containing the substance. The end result probably falls somewhere in the middle or even away from this study's findings. Consider the quote:


"This isn't a rosy picture," said Marilyn Schorin, chief nutritional officer for Yum! Brands, whose chains include Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut.