Page 47 - Spring2009

Growing consumer resistance to HFCS is the likely explanation for in moderation. In fact, the entire food industry
a recent industry campaign to put the new sweetener in a favorable light. has succeeded very well over the past thirty
Ads run on television and in popular magazines portray HFCS as benign years in getting Americans to consume far more
and its critics as bossy, overbearing, unqualified and misinformed. than moderate amounts of refined sweeteners,
For example, a full-page ad in Better Homes and Gardens portrays particularly high fructose corn syrup. Between
two attractive women engaged in the following conversation: 1970 and 2000, the per capita consumption of
“My dry cleaner says high fructose corn syrup is loaded with calo- HFCS in the U.S. increased from less than one
ries.” pound per person to over sixty pounds yearly. 3
The reply: “A registered dietitian presses your shirts?” There can be no debate about the fact that
Then comes the official statement: “There’s a lot of misinformation both sugar and HFCS, with their empty, deplet-
out there about sugars made from corn. Truth is, high fructose corn syrup ing, addictive calories, are bad for you. But the
is nutritionally the same as table sugar. The same number of calories too. real question is whether HFCS is actually worse
As registered dietitians recommend, keep enjoying the foods you love, for you—more depleting and more damaging—
just do it in moderation. We welcome a healthy discussion. Get the facts. than ordinary sugar. The research indicates that
You’re in for a sweet surprise. www.SweetSurprise.com.” 2 it is.
On the surface, the official statement is true. Both HFCS and sugar
have approximately the same number of calories, both are pure carbo- THE OBESITY DEBATE
hydrate and both are virtually devoid of vitamins and minerals. For this The public became aware of the possible
reason alone, HFCS should be strictly avoided. Since refined carbohydrates, downside of HFCS with the publication of a 2004
sugar and HFCS included, tend to be addictive, it is difficult to follow the paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutri-
4
platitudinous advice of registered dietitians who urge us to consume them tion. Authors Bray and others noted the parallel

HOW CORN SWEETENERS ARE MADE

Called “one of the greatest achievements in the sugar industry,” the development of the various types of corn syrups,
maltodextrins and high-fructose corn syrup from corn starch sources, represents the pinnacle of food processing. Corn
starch can be hydrolyzed into glucose relatively easily, but it was not until the 1970s that it became a major commercial
product, bringing about major changes in the food industry.
Corn starch is processed and refined from the kernels of corn by using a series of steeping (swelling the kernel), separa-
tion and grinding processes to separate the starch from the other parts of the kernel (which are used for animal feed.).The
starch is hydrolyzed using acid, acid-enzyme, or enzyme-enzyme catalyzed processes. The first enzyme is generally a ther-
mally stable alpha amylase which produces about 10-20 percent glucose. Further treatment with the enzyme glucoamylase
yields 93-96 percent glucose. The final corn syrup (glucose syrup) products include dried corn syrup, maltodextrin and
dextrose (glucose).
With the development of glucoamylase in the 1940s and 1950s, it became a straightforward matter to produce high-
percent glucose syrups (corn syrup). However, these have shortcomings in the sweetener industry. D-glucose has only
about 70 percent of the sweetness of sucrose, on a weight basis, and is comparatively insoluble. Fructose is 30 percent
sweeter than sucrose, on a weight basis, and twice as soluble as glucose at low temperatures, so a 50 percent conversion
of glucose to fructose overcomes both problems, giving a stable syrup that is as sweet as a sucrose solution of the same
concentration.
According to food industry literature, one of the “triumphs” of enzyme technology so far has been the development
of glucose isomerase, which in turn led to the commercialization of high fructose corn syrups. Several types of bacteria can
produce such glucose isomerases. The enzymes are resistant to thermal denaturation and will act at very high substrate
concentrations, which means that they are stable at higher operational temperatures and can be used over and over during
processing. This is key to the production of an inexpensive substitute for sugar.
Glucose isomerases convert the glucose in corn syrup into fructose, resulting in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS
comes in three different formulations. Forty-two percent fructose corn syrup is used mostly in processed foods like pas-
tries, cookies and ketchup. However, soft drink manufacturers requested a high-fructose blend, one containing 55 percent
fructose. This is produced by using vast chromatographic columns of zeolites or the calcium salts of cation exchange resins
to absorb and separate the fructose from the other components. A very sweet 90 percent high fructose corn syrup is used
as a sweetener in low-calorie “diet” products.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup

SPRING 2009 Wise Traditions 45