Photo by Watt Publishing, Flickr
The FDA has officially refused to allow manufacturers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to call the substance “corn sugar” as they have been during a current marketing campaign. While refined sugar itself is no health booster, high fructose corn syrup undergoes more processing than standard refined sugar and studies on what it does to your body are evolving. The consensus is that it metabolizes differently from glucose and can lead to fat accumulation in the liver (something that I have after a life up until about 10 years ago eating many processed foods). The FDA’s official rationale was that sugar is granular, not a liquid, and that corn sugar already has a definition: dextrose. Some outlets have been reporting that it was because HFCS is not natural, but it is more a case of semantics than its “natural” nature.
The ubiquitous of HFCS is disturbing. If you are eating a processed food, there is a good chance you are eating HFCS, since it is a cheaper sweetener than cane sugar.
