An Unnecessary Process: Making High Fructose Corn Syrup
The process of making High Fructose Corn Syrup is a long and complicated one. It was first discovered in 1900’s. High Fructose Con Syrup has been used as an artificial sweetener for decades. It involves the change of sucrose sugar into fructose sugar. It is a complicated process involving many changes on the molecular level. It also needs specific temperature and pH changes throughout the process to insure that the chemical changes and the enzymes all function properly. If the enzymes and chemical reactions don’t all work properly, the sucrose won’t change properly into fructose and the outcome will not be High Fructose Corn Syrup. The specific change from sucrose sugar into fructose sugar is vital so the process for changing it must be accurate. The fructose sugar is sweeter than the table sugar or sucrose sugar, which is why the fructose sugar is used instead of the sucrose sugar. This extra sweetness makes it favorable for commercial uses. The other factor making both useful and favorable for commercial businesses to use it is its low cost. High Fructose Corn Syrup is cheaper to make and therefore is sold cheaper than regular table or cane sugar. Many commercial food-processing businesses are using High Fructose Corn Syrup because of this meaning and therefore making High Fructose Corn Syrup a common ingredient in many food items.
The process of creating High Fructose Corn Syrup started in the 1800’s. Food industries have known about using microorganisms to produce new foods and increase the shelf lives of foods. In the corn industry, wet millers have used the process of isomerization, or converting D-glucose to D-fructose. The process of isomerization used to be done by treating glucose with alkaline catalyst at a
high pH. This technique was unsuccessful because the conversion created large amounts of by-products, which tended to create a dark color and also develop off-flavors. Despite these side effects, isomerization was continually used with most of the research being done in carbohydrates. This research led to the discovery in the 1950’s that showed that when given right enzyme, the monosaccharide outside the cell the cell would undergo ketolisomerization. This enzyme discovered was xylose isomerase. This discovery was made by biological and medical scientists. More research then worked on how to change the molecular structure of glucose molecules with 5 carbons to fructose molecules with 6 carbons. An enzyme prepared from pseudomonas hydrophilia provided this structure change creating D-fructose.
If this experiment were designed to determine the amount of Fructose in a solution, describe what, if anything, would need to change in the reaction? Explain why there would or would not need to be changes. (5
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an artificial sweetener commonly used in the United States. As its name implies, this sweetener is derived from agricultural corn. All high fructose corn syrups are corn syrups whose fructose content has been increased via enzymatic processes and then mixed with pure corn syrup. There are several different formulations of high-fructose corn syrup. The product sold in the United States (HFCS #2) has the following composition: moisture, 29%; dry substance, 71% D.S.; dextrose, 50% D.S.; ash, 0.03 D.S.; and nitrogen, 0.002% D.S. The amounts of dextrose, fructose, and other saccharides may vary slightly in HFCS #3, but the analysis is fairly consistent. HFCS #1 hasn’t been commercially sold specifically for consumer consumption in the U.S. for many years. Instead, it is used by food producers in their products.
Glucose can be used directly by any cell in the body. It easily moves into the cell where it is directly burned for energy. No such luck with fructose. It must first be transported to the liver where a wide variety of things (none of them good) happen.
High fructose corn syrup was first created in the 1970s by the Japanese as a form of sweetener. Combining 45% glucose and 55% fructose it was the sweetest substance yet and its cheap production, longer shelf-life, and versatility helped it over the next three decades emerge as the dominant sweetener on the market. However, despite its success, it has most recently been noted that effects of the substance are extremely detrimental to consumers, and its increased use directly correlates to the rise in obesity and diabetes among Americans.
High fructose corn syrup was invented by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957” (Production of HF...
Many researchers at various Universities say that high fructose corn syrup is the same as sugar and there is no evidence to suggest that it is linked to an increase in obesity. In “Fat Land” by Greg Critser, he talks about America’s obesity problem, which included high fructose corn syrup as a topic of discussion. Critser states that when Coca-Cola switched from sugar
Michael Pollan, a writer for New York Times and author of New York Times bestseller The Botany of Desire and named best book of the year by Borders, Amazon, and the American Booksellers Association, discusses some of these harmful effects along with many other facts in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan discusses how corn syrup has consumed our nation in chapter six of his book. He discusses how high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has snuck its way into the food of the American’s every meal. As restaurants line roads and food lines pantries, HFCS lurks in almost every meal. Marlene Bishop, editor of Chocolate, Fast Food, and Sweeteners: Consumption and Health, states: “In the last 35 years, high fructose corn syrup has replaced the use of sucrose by food manufactures in the US due to its steady price and availability (White, 2008)" (3). Because of the excess corn and low price to make HFCS, it continues to pour into the ingredients of the American’s diet.
“there’s a fundamental difference between the sugar that you find in fruits & vegetables and the sugar that you find in a large Mountain Dew. The sugar in a lot of these carbonated drinks is highly concentrated simple sugar, the kind that will spike your blood glucose levels, reduce your insulin response over time (leading to Type 2 diabetes) and almost immediately get stored in your body as fat.” There is a difference between sugar from nature and sugar that is processed. Sugar that is processed is highly concentrated because of this it tends to increase your blood glucose levels higher than natural sugar. With high
The production of sap by the tree, syrup by man, and sugar by refining is long and meticulous. The characteristics of syrup are detailed, and the object of makers is to produce a rich product, while nurturing regularly to obtain a perfect consistency.
Fructose- is also a monosaccharide and also the sweetest natural sugar. It’s found in fruits and honey.
High fructose corn syrup is known to proliferate levels of uric acid; it also can raise lactic acid levels (Buist), which leads to muscle cramps. The intake of corn syrup creates a higher risk for heart disease. It also produces “oxidative damage” to the body, depriving cells of oxygen, which in turn speeds up the aging process (Buist). Fructose is broken down by the liver, so the the liver has to pause its production of insulin in order to break down the sugar. This can lead to diabetes and weight gain. High fructose corn syrup also impedes the breakdown of copper, which also can lead to diabetes, heart attacks, and thyroid problems (Buist). Ingesting this sugar ...
HFCS is being used for almost every food product in the food industry. However, if we look at HFCS from a limited point of view we just see it as something present in our food and not the health factors behind it. HFCS can be habit forming since it is a sweet replacement for sugar and in his article Peretti mentions that David Kessler said “sugar, through its metabolisation by the gut and hence the brain, is extremely addictive, just like cigarettes or alcohol.” People enjoy the taste and because of this they consume large quantities, which lead to health factors such as: obesity, diabetes, heart problems, infertility, liver problems, and so on. Our limited perspective may cause us to lose sight of how much of a risk HFCS possess. In my case I use to think that my family gained significant amount of weight only through fatty foods and...
By taking a Carbon Dioxide, rich substance and mixing it with a yeast, solution fermentation will occur, and then it could be determined if it is a good energy-producer. In this study glacatose, sucrose, glycine, glucose, and water were used to indicate how fast fermentation occurred. The overall result shows that monosaccharides in particular galactose and glucose were the best energy source for a cell.
Preparation of Ethanol and Ethanoic Acid Introduction to report ---------------------- This report contains 5 practical experiments to produce ethanoic acid from ethanol. The first practical is the preparation of ethanol from glucose using yeast during the process of fermentation; this has been demonstrated in class. In this practical the glucose is converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide by respiratory enzymes from the yeast. The ethanol solution will be between 5-15% and the ethanol will be separated from the yeast by filtering.
Not all sugars are made the same. Sugar is naturally found in many foods like fruits, vegetables, and dairy. It is also an added ingredient in many processed foods like soups, condiments, and beverages. The sugars added to foods tend to be highly concentrated and devoid of other nutrients. In contrast, natural sugars are integrated into