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High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it’s simply a kind of corn sugar that is nutritionally the same as table sugar. Like sugar or honey, high fructose corn syrup has calories. Excessive calories, from whatever source, can promote weight gain. But replacing high fructose corn syrup with sugar will not reduce obesity or improve health. No single food or ingredient is the sole cause of obesity – rather, the primary cause is too many calories and too little exercise. A sugar is a sugar, whether it’s honey, high fructose corn syrup, table sugar, or fruit juices. Check this site at the American Dietetic Association's website: : http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_19399_ENU_HTML.htm
Chef Kyle Shadix, MS, RD
Registered Dietitian, NYC

I remember last year when Starbucks and others removed trans fat and replaced it with tropical oils, which if you are not familiar, are very high in saturated fats which if you are not familiar are one of the key reasons trans fat became so prevalent. But guess what? Tropical oils are trans fat free and "all natural," which gave them a healthy halo despite the fact that they were doing an injustice to consumers who felt that the switch was better for their health.

So now when I read about and see the in-store marketing materials at Starbucks showing how they are removing high fructose corn syrup from their baked goods, I feel that once again Americans may be mislead into confusion because this switch somehow implies that products sweetened with other sweeteners, such as sugar, are healthier.

As a Registered Dietitian (RD) and an adjunct nutrition professor (NYU, Queens College, Columbia University/Teachers College), I can say with all certainty that everyone is a marketing movement to ban high fructose corn syrup, yet there is no scientific basis to suggest that coffee cake made with sugar is ‘healthier’ than one made with high fructose corn syrup.

As an RD I can confirm that the nutrition science community generally agrees that Americans should cut back on all sweets and calories and that high fructose corn syrup is nutritionally no different from sugar. It is the calories that count. Even the American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it is essentially a corn sugar that is nutritionally the same as table sugar. High fructose corn syrup is not sweeter than sugar; and high fructose corn syrup, sugar and honey all contain the same number of calories (four calories per gram).

This is a marketing not a health issue. Consumers are being misled into thinking that sugar is healthier than high fructose corn syrup, which is simply a kind of sugar. They are nutritionally the same and both are fine in moderation. A sugar is a sugar, whether it’s honey, high fructose corn syrup, table sugar, or fruit juices.

Kyle Shadix, MS, RD
Registered Dietitian, NYC