High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Not off the Hook Yet

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) -- once considered the "Frankenfood" fueling America's obesity epidemic -- recently earned a presidential-style pardon. The American Medical Association concluded last June that this much-maligned sweetener is no worse than sugar. Recently, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a group of noted nutrition experts who've studied this processed sweet stuff agreed.

Even if you don't read medical journals or follow the headlines, you've probably seen those pro-HFCS commercials -- paid for by the Corn Refiners Association -- that feature smiling moms reassuring one another that HFCS is perfectly safe and natural. Natural? So is cyanide. Not that HFCS is the equivalent of cyanide. But we don't think HFCS has a clean bill of health.

Even if it were the same as sugar, who says sugar is a great item to add to food? Further, almost all of the reports that found HFCS to be the same as sugar were funded by groups that profit from selling HFCS, including soda makers. And we believe that the studies don't answer everything. The most important question remains: Do big doses of fructose trigger obesity in ways that go beyond all those excess calories?

Yes, we said fructose. We don't mean the quantities found in fresh fruit, which come packaged with fiber and lots of nutrients. We're talking about the nutritionally empty megadoses added to soda, commercial sweets, and baked goods. And we're also talking about all the little hits you're getting from foods that don't even seem sweet, such as ketchup and salad dressing. A growing stack of research suggests that getting too much fructose in your diet interferes with leptin -- an important digestive-system hormone that tells your brain you are full and should stop eating. In a new University of Florida lab study, animals that ate a high-fat, high-calorie diet that was also high-fructose became leptin-resistant and gained more weight than animals that ate a similar diet, minus the fructose.

Truth is, HFCS isn't the only source of excess fructose in the American diet. Table sugar has roughly equal amounts of fructose and glucose. HFCS comes under such fire because the food industry has been pumping more and more of it into foods since the 1970s. Why? It's cheap, it mixes easily into beverages, and it enhances flavor and shelf life. The result: We eat 1,000 times more HFCS now than when Nixon was president -- an average of 63 pounds a year! Plus, we're eating and drinking more sweets than ever before. As a result, 10% to 12% of our daily calories now come from added fructose, according to researchers from Emory University. Obesity isn't the only hazard, of course. Other research suggests HFCS and sugar raise diabetes risk.

The bottom line: Getting the obvious, and not so obvious, sweeteners out of your diet will save you hundreds of calories a day -- and remove a substance that could be flipping metabolic switches without your permission. Here's how to do it:

Say no to soda and other "liquid candy." The calories alone are enough reason to stop: A single 18-ounce soda, sweet iced tea, or fruit drink can pack 200 or more calories -- courtesy of the 15 teaspoons of sugar-like sweetener, usually HFCS, these beverages contain. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston found that teenagers who stopped drinking sugary beverages lost a pound a week without making any other changes in their diets.

If you're breaking a serious soda habit, transitioning to an artificially sweetened, zero-calorie version is a good stepping stone on your way to healthier drinks -- as in water, unsweetened tea, black coffee, or skim milk.

Rein in that sweet tooth. Candy and commercial baked goods -- including cookies, pies, and cakes -- account for 30% of the fructose in the American diet (and the booming sales of supersized hospital gowns).

Read labels to find hidden HFCS. Check for HFCS (as well as other sweeteners you don't need, like rice syrup) on the ingredients lists of all the processed foods you buy. You'll find it in many breads, sweetened yogurts, and condiments. Buy only the brands without 'em -- or that don't have them in the first five ingredients.

Once you start label watching, you'll see that HFCS is everywhere. Except, we hope, in your kitchen.