High Fructose Corn Syrup - Is It Making America Fat?

We’ve apparently figured out the reason Americans are obese. Yes, it’s true, figures have now shown that approximately 2/3 of people in the United States are overweight. Even if that number isn’t correct, a trip to Walmart on any given day will show you that a shocking number of people do appear to be heavier than healthy. 

But, now we’ve got it figured out. It’s something called high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, is a sweetener used primarily in the United States since the 1970’s. The premise seems to make sense: people have gotten steadily fatter since the 1970’s, and it’s mostly people in the United States. It must be the high fructose corn syrup, then. 

The idea that it is high fructose corn syrup making us fat is almost Gospel in the health food world. But is HFCS really the culprit? Granted, it is in everything: bread, cookies, donuts, ketchup, yogurt, crackers, breakfast cereal, and even in some pickles. 

Some people assume because of the name that high fructose corn syrup is actually high in fructose, so it must be sweeter or bad for you. HFCS was given the name “high” to distinguish it from plain corn syrup. HFCS actually is almost identical in make up to regular old table sugar, which is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. HFCS is composed of between 42 and 55 percent fructose, with the remainder being glucose and other sugars.