History and Advantages of High Fructose Corn Syrup

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The History and Advantages of High Fructose Corn Syrup

HFCS is a popular sweetener used in processed foods. It is composed of approximately 50% fructose and 50% glucose. It is made from corn starch with the use of enzymes to convert glucose to fructose. It has many advantages over cheap sugar, including, but not limited to, lower price, longer shelf life, low freezing point, and enhanced taste and texture. Corn refinement was first discovered circa 1860, and was soon followed by the development of corn syrup. Important advantages took place in the 1920’s with the use of enzymes, but it was not until the mid-1900’s when the crucial glucose isomerase enzyme was discovered. Industrial production of HFCS began in the 1970’s and today the industry is huge.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener used in many consumer products. Because it is as sweet as sugar, yet cheaper, HFCS is used in many processed food products. Like sugar, it has four calories per gram and has no added artificial or synthetic materials.

HFCS is made from corn refinement. First, starch must be separated from the rest of the corn. The starch is then treated with the enzyme glucose isomerase, which converts glucose into fructose. Fructose is an isomer of glucose; both have the empirical formula C6H12O6, but in different bonding. Glucose and fructose bonded together make sucrose, commonly known as table sugar. However, they are found separately in HFCS. Supporters of HFCS claim that it causes no more harm to the body than sugar does because both HFCS and sugar have fructose and glucose in approximately one to one ratios.

There are three main types of HFCS: HFCS-42, HFCS-55, HFCS-90. HFCS-42 is 42% fructose and 50% glucose. It is the least sweet of the ...

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... Shaft." Freedom Daily Apr. 1998. The Future of Freedom Foundation. 25 July 2006 . Path: James Bovard; FFF articles; The Great Sugar Shaft

"Corn Subsidies in United States." Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database. Nov. 2005. Environmental Working Group. 25 July 2006 . Path: Top Programs; Corn Subsidies.

HFCS Facts. 25 July 2006 .

"High Fructose Corn Syrup." Learn about Kosher. OU Kosher. 25 July 2006 .

"Vignette 4 Bioprocess Engineering for High-Volume Products: The Case of Corn and the Wet-Milling Industry." Putting Biotechnology to Work: Bioprocess Engineering. 1992. 27-29. The National Academic Press. 25 July 2006 .

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