High-fructose corn syrup blamed for obesity

High-fructose corn syrup – a substance that is found in some processed cereals, bread, ketchup and mayonnaise – may be partly responsible for the global obesity epidemic, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Princeton University carried out tests on rats, feeding some with regular feed, and feeding others with high-fructose corn syrup. The rats who feasted on the corn syrup feed faced a significantly higher risk of becoming obese. Over the long-term, they were more prone to developing abnormal weight gain. From these results, the researchers have concluded that high-fructose corn syrup could be a major factor in the obesity epidemic that is sweeping America.

The study suggests that high-fructose corn syrup is worse for you than table sugar. However, criticism has been levied at the researchers by organisations within the food industry who say that the study is simply ‘demonising’ the substance. Nestle have taken issue with the results, complaining that the researchers have not given enough description about the amount of calories that the rats consumed.

Many food producers use high-fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar. One of its advantages is that it’s cheaper. An example is the soft drink industry; manufacturers like Pepsi use it to sweeten their drinks. However, in response to its deteriorating nutritional status in the eyes of the public, Pepsi released special edition versions of Pepsi and their other best-selling soda Mountain Dew, featuring ‘real sugar’.

It would be fair to say that the US, like much of the western world, has a national obsession of sorts with sugar. Encouraging westerners to eat less sugar will be a difficult challenge, health campaigners concede, but they also say that it is the only way that startling levels of obesity will be brought back down. Obesity levels worldwide are now thought to be bigger than the levels of starving or malnourished people.