High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as the name suggests is obtained from corn, which contains starch made from a chain of glucose molecules joined together by a chemical bond. To synthesize HFCS,enzymes are added,which converts some of the glucose to Fructose. It usually exists in two forms known as H42 and H55, where the concentration of fructose molecules is varied. H42 is typically used in processed foods such as cereal, bars whereas H55 is used in soft drinks. THe difference between HFCS and natural sucrose containing sugar such as honey, cane sugar is the existence of a chemical bond that joins the sucrose and fructose, making it easy to breakdown by gut enzymes. Also sucrose molecules are made of fructose and glucose, which exists in a 1:1 ratio whereas the amount of fructose to glucose is high in HFCS.
As known from previous studies,it is found that the fructose that is taken stays in the liver and produces fatty acid and uric acid, which is the root cause for many diseases such as heart, diabetes, cancer and obesity. In addition to it, a new study reveals that intake of HFCS can cause growth of intestinal tumors in genetically modified mice, which were already designed to have existing tumors in their abdomen. These mice lacked the gene that can cause obesity and induce metabolic syndrome. To support the claim, a study using three groups of genetically modified mice (APC -/-) were conducted. The first group of mice was referred as the Con group with no intake of HFCS, the second group were known as (HFCS) group with a 20% intake of HFCS using injection and the third group was referred as WB group, which were given unlimited dosage of HFCS mixed in bottle water. The experiment was carried out over a period of 8weeks, where initially it was observed that the mice in both the WB and HFCs groups were induced with obesity. In addition, the intake of HFCS in high amounts induced failure of metabolic function. In addition, as presented by the figure below, WB group had high obesity, fat mass and less fat free mass than the rest of the two groups. Moreover, the size of the tumor was also more, that is the number of tumors in 3mm diameter was found to be less in the HFCSs group than the Con group.However, the number of tumors in both the groups stays the same as injected. Thus, it can be concluded that even though intake of HFCS can cause growth of the size of tumor but there is no linkage of increasing the number of tumors in mice. In addition, further study has to be conducted to find whether it affects the human ways such as causing the abnormal size of tumor growth as it caused in mice.
Figure :- Strucutures of the Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose.
Figure 2:- Represents the BM,FM and FFM data for three sets of mice.
Figure 3:- Illustrates the Increasing Size of Tumor in Both Groups.
References
1)Center for Food Safety; Applied Nutrition. High fructose corn syrup questions and answers https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fructose-corn-syrup-questions-and-answers (accessed Apr 25, 2021).
2) UC Davis Health, Public Affairs; Marketing. New study links combination of fructose, glucose in high fructose corn syrup to heart health risks https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/-new-study-links-combination-of-fructose-glucose-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup-to-heart-health-risks/2020/09 (accessed Apr 26, 2021)
3) Goncalves, M. D.; Lu, C.; Tutnauer, J.; Hartman, T. E.; Hwang, S.-K.; Murphy, C. J.; Pauli, C.; Morris, R.; Taylor, S.; Bosch, K.; Yang, S.; Wang, Y.; Van Riper, J.; Lekaye, H. C.; Roper, J.; Kim, Y.; Chen, Q.; Gross, S. S.; Rhee, K. Y.; Cantley, L. C.; Yun, J. High-Fructose Corn Syrup Enhances Intestinal Tumor Growth in Mice. Science 2019, 363 (6433), 1345–1349
You address a problem that most consumers do not appreciate. Accurate information about HFCS get little media attention. Your headline might be better for general interest readers if High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) was spelled out since many general readers wouldn't recognize the acronym. Your use of H42 and H55 to indicate mixtures that contain 42% and 55% fructose is also a little obscure. The studies you cite are, of course, animal studies and so the application to humans is not necessarily direct. Nonetheless the studies are suggestive. It is probably worthwhile to go back to the original studies as you have rather than to simply assert that HFCS causes obesity and cancer. Unfortunately you end up with a post that may be a little too technical for the average reader. I assume that your original source was an article in Science Daily. While that is generally available and quite widely consulted it would have been interesting to highlight something from some more widely read general interest site.
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