"The
belief that HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup) may be harmful - linked to obesity or diabetes - has
helped sink consumption of HFCS over the last ten years.
Researchers
at the USDA decided to put that belief to the test. The honey industry,
likely hoping that that honey's suspected health benefits might be
proven, helped fund the effort.
The
researchers gave subjects daily doses of each of three sweeteners -
honey, cane sugar and high-fructose corn sweetener - for two weeks at a
time. They then compared measures of blood sugar, insulin, body weight,
cholesterol and blood pressure in the 55 subjects.
The
researchers found that the three sweeteners basically have the same
impacts. Most measures were unchanged by the sweeteners. One measure of a
key blood fat, a marker for heart disease, rose with all three...."
"The
effects were essentially the same,” said Susan K. Raatz, a research
nutritionist at the USDA who conducted the study with two colleagues."
The final conclusion -
The
marketers “made a big mistake when they called it ‘high-fructose corn
syrup,’” said Raatz. "A sweetener is a sweetener, no matter the source."
