RE: The Type of Sugar, In Addition to Amount Consumed Determines Negative Health Outcomes
So You're Telling Me, High Fructose Corn Syrup Isn't Really High In Fructose?
It is actually.
Just not relative to table sugar. Relative to regular corn syrup from which its produced (also known as glucose syrup), its way higher. Which is how it got its name.
When they set out to make HFCS, the problem they were trying to solve was that corn syrup was far cheaper than table sugar, and also more versitile in many ways for baking. But it wasn't sweet enough to satisfy modern tastes.
The corn lobby (yes, thats a real thing) marketed the product aggressively in the early 2000s as a healthier alternative to "regular sugar" relying heavily on the notion that fructose was found in fruits, and therefore healthier.
Incidentally, long-chain sugars aren't what makes corn syrup viscous. In fact, regular glucose syrup is thicker than HFCS. Its unreacted starches that have not been turned into sugar that bind the sugar and water into a goopy mess.
I will answer chronologically. It depends on your definition of high in fructose, its right around 50%. And essentially the same as sucrose. I was trying to correct the misconception that there is much more fructose in HFCS then in table sugar. There isn't, it's pretty much the same. I was using this sort of discussion to lead into, well we know it's terrible for you and so is regular sucrose, and that is because of the fructose component.
Yep I know the story of where HFCS came from.
Oh lord. Starches are long chain sugars! Gucose syrup is indeed viscous because of long chain sugars for the same reason as HFCS, in glucose syrup the monomeric glucose component carries from around 10 to 90% depending on the grade of the syrup (coincidentally the viscosity would vary too), traces of other monomeric sugars like maltose are present. The remaining components there are long sugar chains of linked together glucose from the hydrolysis of starch.
The chain length is what gives both glucose syrup and HFCS their viscosity. Glucose by itself even at extremely high concentrations is still fairly non viscous, especially when compared to either of these solutions.
Thanks for reading and your comment!!
oops. i knew that but forgot.
That's what I'm here for my friend! :)
I've been told that corn syrup is cheaper than cane sugar only because of the vast US government subsidies for corn. That ring a bell? I haven't looked into it myself.