Experts Dispel HFCS Myths

WASHINGTON—A supplement that will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition encourages the scientific community and general public to stop demonizing high fructose corn syrup as the culprit of obesity and rethink the myths about high fructose corn syrup’s impact on the American diet.

“The State of the Science on Dietary Sweeteners Containing Fructose” is the scientific summary of a joint conference held in March 2008 by the International Life Sciences Institute of North America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.

The conference brought together several scientific leaders from varying backgrounds, including former critics of high fructose corn syrup, who found there is little evidence that high fructose corn syrup and sugar (or sucrose) have differing effects on satiety, overall energy balance, metabolic hormones or biochemical metabolites such as triglycerides and uric acid—all suggesting no unique causal role for high fructose corn syrup in obesity.