High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a highly processed ingredient manufactured from surplus corn, and yielding a cheap replacement to table sugar. In the early 1980’s many food manufacturers started using it instead of sugar as a cost cutting measure. That’s about the same time obesity rates started to skyrocket in the US.
Most scientists agree that HFCS is no better and no worse than plain sugar, though some newer studies seem to find the two affect the metabolism differently. Consumption of both should be drastically limited.
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Sources:
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Schulze MB, Manson JE, Ludwig DS, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages, weight gain, and incidence of type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged women. JAMA. 2004;292(8):927-34.
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