5/30/2009

Is Cane Sugar Better Than High Fructose Corn Syrup?

By Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am — Filed under:

I just saw this commercial for Pepsi Throwback.

The reason why this soda is supposed to be better than normal Pepsi is because it is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. They aren’t saying that it’s healthier than normal Pepsi, but there are a lot of people out there who believe it is:

Yes, sugar is made up of glucose, which is easier to digest and metabolize. High fructose corn syrup has been altered to increase the fructose and decrease the glucose. The body doesn’t metabolize fructose as easily as glucose; it metabolizes it more like fat. The natural fructose in fruit is counterbalanced by the fiber but this is generally not present in foods with high fructose corn syrup. For this reason the blood sugar level goes much higher, especially if drinking high fructose corn syrup. This can lead to obesity, diabetes and poor digestion.

Authors: Heather Basciano, Lisa Federico and Khosrow Adeli of the Clinical Biochemistry Division, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Published in the journal: “Nutrition & Metabolism”, February 21, 2005.

In the end, however, it all comes down to calories. There are EXACTLY the same amount of calories in a Pepsi Throwback as there are in a regular old Pepsi. Some people might think it tastes better than HCFS, but you can’t get me to believe that 100 calories of regular soda is going to make me fatter than 100 calories of cane sugar soda.

Via: Go Retro!: Throw Back Some Pepsi Throwback

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6 Responses to “Is Cane Sugar Better Than High Fructose Corn Syrup?”

  1. angela Says:

    No, I agree. It just won’t mess with your metabolism as much. Which if you are going to have a soda, I guess that makes it the better choice.

  2. Katie Says:

    There is more to “health” than what makes you fattest.

  3. Jason Says:

    Cane sugar and beet sugar are both relatively pure sucrose. While the glucose and fructose, which are the two components of HFCS, are monosaccharides, sucrose is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose linked together with a relatively weak glycosidic bond. A molecule of sucrose (with a chemical formula of C12H22O11) can be broken down into a molecule of glucose (C6H12O6) plus a molecule of fructose (also C6H12O6 — an isomer of glucose) in a weakly acidic environment. Sucrose is broken down during digestion into fructose and glucose through hydrolysis by the enzyme sucrase, by which the body regulates the rate of sucrose breakdown. Without this regulation mechanism, the body has less control over the rate of sugar absorption into the bloodstream.

    The fact that sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose units chemically bonded complicates the comparison between cane sugar and HFCS. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are unique, distinct molecules. Sucrose is broken down into its constituent monosaccharides – namely, fructose and glucose – in weakly acidic environments by a process called inversion.[13] This same process occurs in the stomach and in the small intestine during the digestion of sucrose into fructose and glucose. People with sucrase deficiency cannot digest (break down) sucrose and thus exhibit sucrose intolerance.[14]

    Sucrose has approximately 4 kcal of energy per gram, while HFCS has approximately 3 kcal per gram. This is because HFCS contains roughly 25% water.

  4. steve Says:

    “but you can’t get me to believe that 100 calories of regular soda is going to make me fatter than 100 calories of cane sugar soda.”

    If you think all calories are equal and nobody can “make” you “believe” otherwise, then you are hopeless.

  5. Wake Says:

    Yes of course it is. Any food stuffs with more intense processing, is going to have a lower nutritional value and a higher health risk. Pure cane sugar and the like has been nutritionally balanced by nature, to be in tune with the insects and other animals that feed it. Sugars in plants are there to attract insects and other animals to help them do jobs they have a hard time doing for themselves. For example pollination, seed dispersal and in some cases, even protection. Natural selection over hundreds of thousands of years has favoured those plants highest in nutritional values for animals and weeded out most that don’t, so what makes anyone think that “MAN” can do better in just a few decades? RULE OF THUMB:> Never trust a seller to give you the true dope. They are selling stuff, not trying to protect you.

  6. Amber Says:

    There is more to “health” than what makes you fattest.

    I like that!!! I recently watched a documentary with my husband, “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”. My husband has this habit. He likes to watch documentaries and then he takes stuff away from us. Not complaining now, but I kinda do when he says, “So I watch this documentary today” I watched him standing in front of our refidge with a trash can reading ingredient labels and tossing out most of our groceries. “Yep preservatives, artificial flavoring/coloring, cant pronounce, high fructose corn syrup.” NOOOOOOOO!!! He left us with some local fruits and veggie. I’m a vegetarian so I was thankful and not at all surprised by what was left as “healthy foods” But some of my favorite unhealthy snacks where sitting in our trash can and there wasn’t a thing that I could do about it. High fructose corn syrup has been said to be ok in moderation. Go to your grocery store and as your shopping your normal trip just read a few. You will learn that high fructose corn syrup is in most everything. So you pretty much lose the “moderation” very quickly. Back to the documentary, it was very informative and humorous. There was a lady that said, “Im not doing this to be skinny, Im doing it to be healthy” if only every person that “Dieted” thought that way. America would be a much “healthier” country!

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