Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Worse for You Than Sugar?

It’s a debate that’s been going on for a couple of decades now – is high-fructose corn syrup worse for you than good old-fashioned white table sugar?

High-fructose corn syrup isn’t necessarily worse for you than sugar. Both high-fructose corn syrup and regular sugar should be consumed in moderation due to their potentially detrimental effects on your health if consumed regularly in high amounts.

We’ll explain how we came to this conclusion and directly compare high-fructose corn syrup and sugar in this article!

What is sugar?

The term “sugar” is pretty broad and describes several different types of sugars that occur in foods. 

Some of the most common sugars include:

• Fructose (or “fruit sugar”, which occurs naturally in fruits but is also isolated to make high-intensity sweeteners like corn syrup)
• Glucose (also called dextrose – glucose is the type of sugar in your bloodstream)
• Lactose – the sugar found in milk
• Sucrose (table sugar – made up of linked glucose + fructose molecules)

For the purpose of this article, we’re referring to sucrose when we say “sugar”. Sucrose is also called “regular” sugar, granulated sugar, and white sugar.

What is high-fructose corn syrup?

First, let’s cover what regular old corn syrup is before we get into the high-fructose stuff.

Corn syrup is a thick, viscous liquid that’s made by breaking down corn starch with an enzyme, thus converting it into sugar. Regular corn syrup –  like the kind you can buy at the grocery store in light and dark varieties – is essentially pure glucose.

So how do you get high-fructose corn syrup from corn syrup? Enter more enzymes! 

Corn syrup undergoes yet another enzymatic process to make high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which converts some of the glucose molecules in corn syrup to fructose, another type of simple sugar.

Why use HFCS instead of regular sugar?

Fructose is sweeter than glucose, which means food manufacturers can use less of it to achieve the desired level of sweetness compared to sugar or regular corn syrup.

Another benefit of HFCS for food manufacturers is that it’s less expensive than sugar. Why? Because it’s made from corn, a highly-subsidized crop in the United States.

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), high-fructose corn syrup contains either 42% or 55% fructose, and the rest of it consists of glucose and water (remember that regular corn syrup is essentially 100% glucose).

Differences between sugar and high-fructose corn syrup

Gram-for-gram, high-fructose corn syrup and sugar contain the same amount of sugar and calories. So is one worse for you than the other?

The main difference between high-fructose corn syrup and sugar is that high-fructose corn syrup has a higher glycemic index (GI) compared to sugar (sucrose). That means that it will raise your blood sugar more quickly than regular sugar.

Why does the glycemic index matter? High-GI foods (those with scores of 70+) can worsen blood sugar problems like insulin resistance, prediabetes, and diabetes, which are increasing in prevalence. High-GI foods can also cause your body to store more fat because of the increased insulin levels in response to rises in blood sugar.

	Sugar	High-fructose corn syrup
Calories per gram	4	4
Glycemic index	65	70-80

Is high-fructose corn syrup worse for you than sugar?

High-fructose corn syrup isn’t significantly worse for you than sugar. It’s metabolized similarly and contains the same amount of calories, but might spike your blood sugar levels ever-so-slightly more compared to sugar.

However, treating regular sugar as a “healthier” or better option compared to HFCS is a detrimental way of thinking. Added sweeteners, which include both HFCS and regular sugar, should be limited due to their adverse health effects if they’re regularly consumed in large amounts.

The bottom line is that if you had a choice between high-fructose corn syrup and regular sugar, regular sugar might be the slightly preferred option, though neither is going to do you or your health any big favors in the long run, so should be enjoyed in moderation. 

(Also, there isn’t enough robust scientific evidence to suggest that HFCS is significantly worse for you than regular sugar.)

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