Why did we get so fat, so fast? Toxic sugar, HFCS, obesity and the blame game...

This content item was originally published on www.confectionerynews.com, a William Reed online publication.

10-Jul-2012 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 10:45 GMT

Related tags High-fructose corn syrup Corn syrup

We've all heard the statistics - almost 36% of Americans are now obese. But 50 years ago, it was just 13%. So why did we get so fat, so quickly? And what role did sugar - and specifically high fructose corn syrup - have to play?

Dr. John White, president of White Technical Research and a leading expert on caloric sweeteners, sat down with FoodNavigator-USA at the IFT show in Las Vegas to give us the lowdown...

2 comments

sugar content - correction

Posted by C Harvey, 17 July 2012 - 00:37 GMT

Meant to say that fructose and glucose (in HFCS) are free monosaccharides.

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sugar content data for corn syrups -- incorrect?

Posted by C Harvey, 17 July 2012 - 00:16 GMT

There seems to be conflicting data for "sugar" content(per FDA definition) of corn syrups (light, dark and HFCS) depending on where you look. USDA database shows only about 35% sugars (mono & disaccharide) out of total carb content (including for HFCS), as do corn syrup labels. But many beverages sweetened ONLY with HFCS show about 95% of the carbs are sugars. And the corn refiners state their product is a combo of almost completely glucose and fructose (mono and disaccharides), meaning "sugar" content should be 90%+. So, why does corn syrup (including HFCS)often show only 35% sugar content?