kxx
Well-Known Member
I don't suppose it will do any good to combat the solidly
entrenched suburban myth, but I'll try anyway....
Unless you have the fructose malabsorption problem (wikipedia
says 30-40% of people of Central European descent have it),
there is nothing - repeat - nothing - wrong with fructose, or
high fructose corn syrup. Sucrose falls apart into an equilibrium
mix of glucose and fructose, both open and closed chain forms,
in aqueous solution. Fruits, which humans beings evolved to eat,
contain high amounts of fructose. You can buy 100% fructose
on most supermarket shelves. There is no difference in taste
between glucose, sucrose and fructose, which you can test
yourself as they are available commercially in pure form. The syrup
is a syrup for the same reason that all syrups are syrups: because
they have water in them. Fructose happens to be the most
soluble in water of the simple sugars, but it will crystallize
from water at the right concentration and temperature. There
is also no significant difference in calories per gram of those
sugars, but because fructose is sweeter, you can use less
of it to get the same effect, which is why you can buy it
in supermarkets, because some people use it for dieting.
Whether you get 250 calories from a sucrose soda or a
HFCS soda, it's still 250 calories. If you drink 6 of them
a day, you will probably put on a lot of weight. Most of
the people who are doing that are also spending a lot
of time in the drive-thru. Given that a 180 pound man
burns about 2200 calories a day if he's not excercising,
taking in 2700 calories a day will mean that he puts on
a pound of fat per week (3500 calories/pd), and given
that a quarter pounder, large fries and large non-diet
soda is about 1600 calories, it's not too surprising many
people put on weight if they are doing that and drinking
lots of HFCS soda and pastries, but it's the calories,
not the HFCS.
Ray
gram for gram fructose has been correlated with higher incidence of diabetes, higher triglyceride levels and so on, compared to glucose. Explaining this, biochemically, is an active area of research.
fructose is found in most things "naturally" sweetened, so the only way to protect yourself is to be aware of what is in the foods you eat.
I agree with Ray, in that if one eats 5000 calories/day the added risk of fructose compared to glucose should be the least of your concerns.