High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar (sucrose), previously thought to have nearly identical effects on the body, actually have slight differences between them, researchers found. With growing concern that excessive levels of fructose may pose a great health risk - causing high blood pressure, kidney disease and diabetes - researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, along with their colleagues at the University of Florida, set out to see if two common sweeteners in western diets differ in their effects on the body in the first few hours after ingestion.
The study took a closer look at high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar (sucrose) and was led by Dr MyPhuong Le (now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado) and Dr Julie Johnson, a Professor of Pharmacogenomics at the University of Florida.
The study revealed that indeed there is a difference between the two. They found that the makeup of the sugars resulted in differences in how much fructose was absorbed into the circulation, and which could have potential impact on one's health.
Sucrose is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose that is bonded together as a disaccharide (complex carbohydrate) and HFCS is a mixture of free fructose (55 percent) and free glucose (45 percent). It's the difference in fructose amount that appears to create the ill health effects on the body.
Their study was conducted at the University of Florida, where they evaluated 40 men and women who were given 24 ounces of HFCS- or sugar-sweetened soft drinks.
Careful measurements showed that the HFCS sweetened soft drinks resulted in significantly higher fructose levels than the sugar-sweetened drinks. Fructose is also known to increase uric acid levels that have been implicated in blood pressure, and the HFCS-sweetened drinks also resulted in a higher uric acid level and a 3 mm Hg greater rise in systolic blood pressure.
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"Soft drinks containing HFCS result in slightly higher blood levels of fructose than sucrose-sweetened drinks.
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The study has been recently published in the journal Metabolism.
Source-ANI