Does High Fructose Corn Syrup Cause Obesity?

For the last 25 years, soft drinks have used high fructose corn syrup as their major form of sweetening. This coincides with a major increase in obesity in America. However, a study from the University of Washington shows that there is no evidence that commercial beverages sweetened with either sucrose or high fructose corn syrup have significantly different effects on hunger or how much you eat (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007).

In another study from Purdue University, subjects were given three different food groups in both liquid and solid forms (International Journal of Obesity, June 2007). No matter what they ate, the subjects ate far more calories on the days that they took in foods in liquid form. This shows that liquid forms of food are interpreted in the brain as less filling, and therefore people take in more calories when their beverages contain calories. Interestingly, the increase in calories associated with liquid forms of foods was nearly the same in obese and skinny people.

A single 12-ounce can of soda contains 13 teaspoons of high fructose corn syrup and the average American consumes almost 60 pounds of it, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The leading theory now is that any sugar in liquid form does not make you feel full the way solid food does. Therefore if weight is a problem for you, you should not take in calories in liquid form. Drink water or other zero-calorie beverages instead. More