Cannabis Chronicles

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) advocates will tell you that the high fructose corn syrup story is one of the most “revolutionary” in food science in the last few decades.¹ Yet HFCS has been blamed for increases, outbreaks, and even epidemics, in human obesity. Some well respected scientists would like to link the ubiquitous nature of HFCS in our diet to increases in juvenile diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

Others, also well respected, will argue that not only is high fructose corn syrup cheaper than other sources of sugar, it’s actually superior to sucrose. It’s been said that HFCS produces better and more eye appealing breads and breakfast cereals, as well as superior cookies and cakes. So, why is there a problem, or controversy, and what might it all mean?

Our primary interest here at the bird’s nest in researching and writing this article is to examine the potential of high fructose corn syrup as an alternative to molasses as a soil sweetener and fuel for the soil microherd. But, with a number of various controversies swirling around this sweet man made invention, we’ll need to examine the whole HFCS story in little greater detail.

If you’ve had a sip of Coca-Cola or 7-Up, sampled the potato salad at a Blimpies or KFC, or eaten a sandwich with Ketchup or tartar sauce at almost any Canadian or U.S. fast food restaurant,
you can be almost 100% positive that you’ve just consumed some High Fructose Corn Syrup. It’s everywhere it seems. High Fructose Corn Syrup shows up as an ingredient in a variety of salad dressings and sauces, brownies and pies.

HFCS is an important ingredient in Mott’s Apple Sauce, McDonaldland Cookies, Taco Bell’s Carmel Apple Empanada, Subway’s Teriyaki Glazed Chicken Strips, and the Log Cabin Syrup served at Jack in the Box.²

Believe it or not, the term High Fructose Corn Syrup is a sort of an oxymoron. Contrary to it’s name, HFCS itself isn’t necessarily especially high in fructose. Unaltered or natural corn syrup itself is almost entirely glucose, so at the time this enzymatically altered sweetener was developed, the addition of any fructose to the corn syrup equation resulted in a product labeled- High Fructose. Hyperbole and marketing aside, the final ratio of glucose to fructose found in manufactured HFCS is pretty similar to table sugar.

Sucrose is the more scientific term for what you and I know as table sugar, and it is approximately 50% glucose and 50% fructose. The final ratios of fructose and glucose in commonly used High Fructose Corn Syrups can vary, for instance there is a HCFS42 that is 42% fructose, and a HCFS55 that is, you guessed it, 55% fructose.³

As a matter of marketing, and for simplicity in use, high fructose corn syrup was developed and formulated to provide sweetness similar to table sugar. Beverage makers and food confectioners needed to be able to depend on HFCS to provide a similar level of sweetness as sucrose. This was considered to be an absolute necessity in order to guarantee that consumers would be unable to notice any differences in flavor or perceived sweetness.

HFCS55 has sweetness equivalent to sucrose (table sugar). It’s used in many carbonated soft drinks in the United States and Canada. HFCS42 is somewhat less sweet, and is used in wide variety of products including fruit-flavored non-carbonated beverages and baked goods. HFCS is commonly used in products where its special characteristics such as ferment-ability, lower freezing point, surface browning, or flavor enhancement, could add perceived value to the finished product.⁴

None of those facts sound very nefarious, do they? So why is it then that HFCS is demonized and blamed for so many maladies? It’s the production of HFCS that gets some folks upset, and it’s not just a single facet of production that’s problematic. The first problem literally begins with a kernel of corn.

HFCS is generally made from transgenic (genetically modified / also known as a GMO - for genetically modified organism) corn, and that’s an issue in some circles. Some individuals worry about the long term health effects of the consumption of a vegetable that’s had foreign DNA inserted into it’s genetic code. Other’s worry about the almost inevitable escape of genetically modified genes from cultivation, and are concerned about the impact these artificially created genetics might have on wild plant populations. And finally, some ethicists take issue with the tight patent privileges associated with transgenic crops. It is illegal to save seed or otherwise breed or reuse GMO seed in any manner shape or form, effectively ending all traditional seed saving practices.

The actual growing part of production doesn’t have to involve transgenic organisms though. While GMO corn is normally used to produce HFCS, it can be produced from corn that hasn’t been genetically altered. But, that’s where the issue of the enzymatic process used to create High Fructose Corn Syrup rears it’s ugly head. At least one genetically modified enzyme is necessary as a part of the actual manufacturing process of High Fructose Corn Syrup, making it’s use in any product termed natural or organic quite questionable.

I believe the makers of 7-up were even sued over that product’s “All Natural” labeling in the USA, simply because it is sweetened by HFCS. It appears that beverage’s labeling has changed to - “100% Natural Flavors”. In my eyes this is a sign that despite the US government’s lack of standards concerning the word “natural” on foods, that labeling HFCS products as “natural” is too big a stretch for the admittedly plastic regulators under the current Bush administration.

With all of that in mind, here’s one more quick look at a few of the dueling sugars that are part of Sweet Wars, the following primarily derived from Wikipedia’s article on HFCS.

Cane and beet sugar

Cane sugar and Beet sugar are both relatively pure sucrose. While the glucose and fructose which are the two components of HFCS are monosaccharides, sucrose is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose linked together with a relatively weak glycosidic bond. A molecule of sucrose (with a chemical formula of C12H22O11) can be broken down into a molecule of glucose (C6H12O6) plus a molecule of fructose (also C6H12O6 — an isomer of glucose) in a weakly acidic environment. Sucrose is broken down during digestion into fructose and glucose through hydrolysis by the enzyme sucrase, by which the body regulates the rate of sucrose breakdown. Without this regulation mechanism, the body has less control over the rate of sugar absorption into the bloodstream.

The fact that sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose units chemically bound complicates the comparison between cane sugar and HFCS. The accuracy of saying that sucrose is “composed of 50% glucose and 50% fructose” depends on the context and point of view. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are unique, distinct molecules. Sucrose is broken down into its constituent monosaccharides - namely fructose and glucose - in weakly acidic environments by a process called inversion. This same process occurs in the stomach and in the small intestine during the digestion of sucrose into fructose and glucose. People with sucrase deficiency cannot digest (break down) sucrose, and thus exhibit sucrose intolerance.

Both HFCS and sucrose have approximately 4 kcal per gram of solid if the HFCS is dried; HFCS has approximately 3 kcal per gram in its liquid form [8].

Honey

Honey is a mixture of different types of sugars, water, and small amounts of other compounds. Honey typically has a fructose/glucose ratio similar to HFCS 55, as well as containing some sucrose and other sugars. Honey, HFCS and sucrose have the same number of calories, having approximately 4 kcal per gram of solid; honey and HFCS both have about 3 kcal per gram in liquid form.

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees. In Canada and the U.S. it is most often eaten with pancakes, waffles, french toast, cornbread or ice cream. It is sometimes used as an ingredient in baking, the making of candy (confection), preparing desserts, or as a sugar source and flavoring agent in making beer. Sucrose is the most prevalent sugar in maple syrup.

Sweet sorghum

Sweet sorghum is any of the many varieties of sorghum, a cane-like plant with a high sugar content. Sweet sorghum will thrive under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and sugar production. Sweet sorghum syrup is called “molasses” or “sorghum molasses” in some regions of the U.S., but the term molasses more properly refers to a different sweet syrup, made as a byproduct of sugarcane or sugar beet production.

1. compliments of the corn refiners association - http://www.hfcsfacts.com/ [↩]
2. according to Fast Food Facts - a regularly updated web site providing nutritional information about the food served at many popular fast food restaurants - http://www.foodfacts.info/high-fructose-corn-syrup.shtml [↩]
3. Wikipedia and other various sources including http://www.hfcsfacts.com/ [↩]
4. Corn Refiners Association - http://www.hfcsfacts.com/sweetAsSugar.html [↩]