Corn syrup

Corn syrup is any of variety of forms syrup (thick, viscous liquid, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars, with little tendency to deposit crystals) made using corn starch as a feedstock, and composed mainly of glucose. Corn syrup is a natural sweetener used in a variety of products, which may be labelled "all natural" in the United States. It is often used to soften texture, add volume, inhibit crystallization, and enhance flavor (Knehr 2005).

The varieties of sweeteners listed as corn syrup differ in the amount of glucose present, among other factors (clor, flavor additives, cloudiness, etc.). A commercial “corn syrup” may contain between 20% and 98% dextrose (glucose) (SA 2007). The more general term glucose syrup is often used synonymously with corn syrup, since glucose syrup is most commonly made from corn starch (SA 2007). Technically though, glucose syrup is any liquid starch hydrolysate of mono, di, and higher saccharides (ISI 2006) and can be made from starch from any source, of which wheat, rice and potatoes are the most common sources.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a variant of corn syrup in which other enzymes are used to convert some of the glucose into fructose. The resulting syrup is sweeter and more soluble.

Corn syrup production and use

Starch is a complex carbohydrate, specifically a polysaccharide, that is used by plants as a way to store glucose. After cellulose, starch is the most abundant polysaccharide in plant cells. In pure form, starch is insoluble in cold water. Animals and plants digest starch, converting it to glucose to serve as a source of energy. Starch is a major source of carbohydrates in human diets,

Hydrolysis is the term used to describe the overall process where starch is converted into various sweeteners.

A series of two enzymatic reactions is used to convert the corn starch to corn syrup. Its major use is in commercially prepared foods as a thickener and for its moisture-retaining (humectant) properties which keep foods moist and helps to maintain freshness. It is widely used in products labeled "all natural" in the United States. Because of its mild sweetness, corn syrup may be used in conjunction with high intensity sweeteners.

SA 2007 The singular term “corn syrup” is somewhat of a misnomer because it is used to identify a group of sweeteners that differ from one another simply by the amount of dextrose (glucose) present in the commercial syrup. Since only a single type of corn syrup is generally used in a food product, the term “corn syrup” is permitted in an ingredient statement. However, consumers have no idea how much glucose is contained in the particular “corn syrup” listed in an ingredient statement. A commercial “corn syrup” may contain between 20% and 98% dextrose (glucose).

When a corn syrup has been concentrated to contain less than 10% water, it can be listed as “corn syrup solids” in an ingredient statement. To qualify as “corn syrup solids,” the glucose (dextrose) content must be at least 88% of the weight of the concentrated syrup. This product can be called “dried glucose syrup” or “glucose syrup solids” in an ingredient list.

Until recently, corn syrup sold into the retail market, eg in supermarkets, was a high glucose version. HFCS is also appearing in retail products. The largest by market in the United States is Karo Syrup, a fructose/glucose syrup.

Some foods that commonly contain corn syrup are: baking and cooking ingredients, beverages, soft drinks, breads, breakfast cereals, breakfast pastries, candy bars, condiments, cookies and cakes, cough syrups, crackers, dairy, drink mixers, frozen foods, ice creams, infant formula, jams and jellies, syrups, meats, pastries, salad dressings, sauces, snacks, soda, and microwavable soup.

High fructose corn syrup

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) refers to a group of corn syrups which have undergone enzymatic processing in order to increase their fructose content and are then mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to reach their final form. The typical types of HFCS are: HFCS 90 (most commonly used in baked goods) which is approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose; HFCS 55 (most commonly used in soft drinks) which is approximately 55% fructose and 45% glucose; and HFCS 42 (most commonly used in sports drinks) which is approximately 42% fructose and 58% glucose.

There is some controversy over the use of HFCS as a food additive. Increasingly, manufacturers are utilizing HFCS in a variety of foods such as breads, cereals, soft drinks, condiments, etc.

The process by which HFCS is produced was first developed by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957 and refined by Japanese researchers in the 1970s. HFCS was rapidly introduced in many processed foods and soft drinks in the US over the period of about 1975–1985.

In terms of sweetness, HFCS 55 is comparable to table sugar (sucrose). This makes it useful to manufacturers as a possible substitute for sugar in soft drinks and other processed foods. HFCS 90 is sweeter than table sugar as fructose is sweeter than glucose, while HFCS 42 is not as sweet as table sugar.

Use as a replacement for sugar

Since its introduction, HFCS has begun to replace sugar in various processed foods in the USA. The main reasons for this switch are:

• HFCS is somewhat cheaper due to the relative abundance of corn, farm subsidies and sugar import tariffs in the United States.
• HFCS is easier to blend and transport because it is a liquid.
• HFCS usage leads to products with much longer shelf life.

Comparison to other sugars

Cane sugar

Cane sugar is relatively pure sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide, as opposed to glucose and fructose, which are monosaccharides. Each molecule of sucrose is composed of one unit each of fructose and glucose 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 acid environment. Sucrose is broken down during digestion into fructose and glucose through hydrolysis by the enzyme sucrase.

Because sucrose can be broken down into fructose and glucose, some people say that sucrose is composed "50% glucose and 50% fructose." This, strictly speaking, is incorrect, because the fructose and glucose in sucrose are linked together and thus it is a different molecule. On the other hand, because sucrose is broken down in weakly acidic environments by a process called inversion into its constituent monosaccharides namely fructose and glucose it is not incorrect to describe its constituents as 50% glucose and 50% fructose. This same process occurs in the stomach and in the small intestine during the digestion of sucrose into fructose and glucose. According to two published reports (one supported by NIH and one supported by industry - American Beverage Institute and the Corn Refiners Association) sucrose is metabolized by the body like a mixture of 50% glucose and 50% fructose and no differently from HFCS [2] [3].

HFCS 50 is chemically quite similar to cane sugar as cane sugar sucrose is made of 50% fructose and 50% glucose while HFCS 55 is made of 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Both HFCS and sucrose have approximately 4 kcal per gram of solid.

Honey

Honey is a mixture of different types of sugars, water, and small amounts of other compounds. Honey typically has a fructose/glucose ratio similar to HFCS 55, as well as containing some sucrose and other sugars. Honey, HFCS and sucrose have the same number of calories having approximately 4 kcal per gram of solid.

Production

High-fructose corn syrup is produced by milling corn to produce corn starch then processing that corn starch to yield corn syrup that is almost entirely glucose, and then adding enzymes that change the glucose into fructose. The resulting syrup (after enzyme conversion) contains approximately 90% fructose and is HFCS 90. To make the other common forms of HFCS (HFCS 55 and HFCS 42) the HFCS 90 is mixed with 100% glucose corn syrup in the appropriate ratios to form the desired HFCS syrup. The enzyme process that changes the 100% glucose corn syrup into HFCS 90 is as follows:

1. Cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called oligosaccharides.
2. Glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose.
3. Glucose isomerase converts glucose to a mixture of about 42% fructose and 50–52% glucose with some other sugars mixed in.

While inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry and used only once, the more costly glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it, allowing it to be used repeatedly until it loses its activity. This 42–43% fructose glucose mixture is then subjected to a liquid chromatography step where the fructose is enriched to approximately 90%. The 90% fructose is then back-blended with 42% fructose to achieve a 55% fructose final product. Most manufacturers use carbon absorption for impurity removal. Numerous filtration, ion-exchange and evaporation steps are also part of the overall process.

Measuring Concentration of HFCS

The units of measurement for sugars including HFCS are degrees Brix (symbol °Bx). Brix is a measurement of the mass ratio of dissolved sugars to water in a liquid. A 25 °Bx solution has 25 grams of HFCS per 100 grams of liquid (25% w/w). Or, to put it another way, there are 25 grams of sugar and 75 grams of water in the 100 grams of solution. The Brix measurement was introduced by Antoine Brix.

When an infrared Brix sensor is used, it measures the vibrational frequency of the High Fructose Corn Syrup molecules, giving a Brix degrees measurement. This will not be the same measurement as Brix degrees using a density or refractive index measurement because it will specifically measure dissolved sugar concentration instead of all dissolved solids. When a refractometer is used, it is correct to report the result as "refractometric dried substance" (RDS). One might speak of a liquid as being 20 °Bx RDS. This is a measure of percent by weight of total dried solids and, although not technically the same as Brix degrees determined through an infrared method, renders an accurate measurement of sucrose content since the majority of dried solids are in fact sucrose. The advent of in-line infrared Brix measurement sensors have made measuring the amount of dissolved HFCS in products economical using a direct measurement. It also gives the possibility of a direct volume/volume measurement.

Recently [4]an isotopic method for quantifying sweeteners derived from corn and sugar cane was developed by Jahren et al. that permits measurement of corn syrup or cane sugar derived sweeteners in humans thus allowing dietary assessment of the relative intake of these substances.

Sweetener consumption patterns

In the United States

File:Usda sweeteners.jpg

US sweetener consumption, 1966-2004. It is apparent from this graph that overall sweetener consumption, and in particular glucose-fructose mixtures, has increased since the introduction of HFCS. Thus, the proportion of fructose as a component of overall sweetener intake in the United States has increased since the early 1980s. This would be true whether the added sweetener was HFCS, table sugar, or any other glucose-fructose mixture.

Because of a system of price supports and sugar quotas imposed since May 1982, importing sugar into the United States is prohibitively expensive, rendering high fructose corn syrup, derived from corn, more economical since the American price of sugar is artificially far higher than the global price of sugar and the price of #2 corn artificially low due to both government subsidies and dumping on the market as farmers produce more corn annually. The food industry turned to HFCS as a substitute, with both Coca-Cola and Pepsi switching to HFCS in 1984.

The average American consumed approximately 19.2 kg of HFCS in 2004, versus 20 kg of sugar.^{[citation needed]} In countries where HFCS is not used or rarely used, the sugar consumption per person can be higher than the USA; for example (2002):

• USA = 32.4 kg
• EU = 40.1 kg
• Brazil = 59.7 kg
• Australia = 56.2 kg

International markets

In the European Union, the sugar price is close to the market price, and the greater availability of cane sugar over maize would make HFCS production there uneconomical. In Japan, HFCS consumption accounts for one quarter of total sweetener consumption.

Controversy

American farm lobby

The preference for high fructose corn syrup over cane sugar amongst the vast majority of American food and beverage manufacturers is largely due to U.S. import quotas and tariffs of sugar, supported with the campaign finance courtesy of agricultural corporations. Most predominantly, the Archer Daniels Midland corporation is currently amongst the leading contributors of such campaign finance. Since local and federal laws often put a limit on how much money one particular lobbyist can contribute, Archer Daniels Midland's contributions are often given by numerous smaller entities under the authority of Archer Daniels Midland. This is commonly called bundling political contributions.

Health effects

One study concluded that pure fructose "produced significantly higher fasting plasma triacylglycerol values than did the glucose diet in men" and "if plasma triacylglycerols are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, then diets high in fructose may be undesirable". Bantle, et al. "noted the same effects in a study of 14 healthy volunteers who sequentially ate a high-fructose diet and one almost devoid of the sugar." It should be noted, however that these studies were on the effects of pure fructose intakes in various solutions not of HFCS. According to research provided by Melanson et al, effects of HFCS to date mimic those of sucrose and not of pure fructose in certain individuals.

A study in mice suggests that fructose increases obesity. However, this study looked at the effects of fructose alone. High fructose corn syrup comes in different ratios of fructose and glucose, which are roughly the same products produced by the breakdown of sucrose (cane/table sugar) in the body. Large quantities of fructose stimulates the liver to produce triglycerides, promotes glycation of proteins and induces insulin resistance.

Studies that have compared HFCS to sucrose (as opposed to pure fructose) find that they have essentially identical physiological effects. For instance, Melanson et al (2006), studied the effects of HFCS and sucrose sweetened drinks on blood glucose, insulin, leptin, and ghrelin levels. They found no significant differences in any of these parameters.

Perrigue et al (2006) compared the effects of isocaloric servings of colas sweetened HFCS 45, HFCS 55, sucrose, and aspartame on satiety and subsequent energy intake. They found that all of the drinks with caloric sweeteners produced similar satiety responses, and had the same effects on subsequent energy intake. Taken together with Melanson et al (2006), this study shows that there is little or no evidence for the hypothesis that HFCS is different from sucrose in its effects on appetite or on metabolic processes involved in fat storage. Interestingly, both the Perrigue et al study and the Melanson et al study were funded by "the American Beverage Institute and the Corn Refiners Association."

One much-publicized recent study found an association between obesity and high HFCS consumption, especially from soft drinks. However, this study did not provide any evidence that this association is causal. And in fact, one of the study coauthors, Dr. Barry M. Popkin, is quoted in the New York Times (July 2, 2006, A Sweetener With a Bad Rap) warning that “I don't think there should be a perception that high-fructose corn syrup has caused obesity until we know more.” In the same article, Walter Willets, chair of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Department Chairman, is quoted as saying that “There's no substantial evidence to support the idea that high-fructose corn syrup is somehow responsible for obesity, [and that] If there was no high-fructose corn syrup, I don't think we would see a change in anything important.” In essence he is saying high fructose corn syrup is just as bad as other sugars. Walter Willets also recommends drinking water over soft drinks containing sugars or high fructose corn syrup.

Although these studies have shown a weak correlation or no correlation between HFCS and adverse health effects, there are many people who believe such a strong correlation exists, and is likely causation. By citing various studies of different sugars on rats and anecdotal evidence from practitioners in the medical profession, a community of individuals has sought to explain an increased incidence of type II diabetes and obesity in terms of increased HFCS consumption. [5] Often, though, it can be difficult to find direct support for these claims in peer-reviewed journals.

Labeling as "natural"

In May 2006, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) threatened to file a lawsuit against Cadbury Schweppes for labeling 7 Up as "All Natural", despite containing high fructose corn syrup. While the FDA has no definition of "natural", CSPI claims that HFCS is not a “natural” ingredient due to the high level of processing and the use of at least one genetically modifed (GMO) enzyme required to produce it. On January 12, 2007, Cadbury Schweppes agreed to stop calling 7 Up "All Natural".

Snapple (another Cadbury-Schweppes brand) is well-known for being "all-natural," but most varieties contain HFCS.

Newman's Own Lemonade and Limeade is labeled as "all-natural" but also contains HFCS.

Taste

Some beverage manufacturers have returned to cane sugar as a sweetener, maintaining that there is a noticeable difference in taste.

Jones Soda announced that the company will launch its 12 ounce canned soda (January 2007) sweetened with pure cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. The brand will be called Jones Pure Cane Soda and will be sold as a 12 ounce can package. As of March 2007, a 12 ounce bottle of Jones Pure Cane Soda Root Beer lists in its ingredients "inverted cane sugar", which seems to mean the same thing as inverted sugar syrup, which, like HFCS, is a mixture of fructose and glucose.

Goose Island sodas also use pure sugar and they market this to have a more pure flavor. Their market slogan is "Made with 100% real sugar for better taste."

Steaz sodas and energy drinks use only organic cane sugar produced using a "single-crystallization process preserves the original flavor... without the use of additives, preservatives, or animal by-products."

Jolt Cola was originally sweetened with sugar, and marketed with the slogan "All the sugar and twice the caffeine." A later reformulation, though, replaced sugar with HFCS.

Vernors was originally sweetened with stevia from 1866 to 1991 and had a "deliciously different" taste. Stevia was replaced with HFCS when the FDA banned it in 1991 in a controversial decision.

Some Coca-Cola products have started to use sucrose as indicated by the ingredient list clearly marked on the outside of the box. This is not widespread and is dependent on individual processing plants. Coca-Cola does not have an official statement at this time on whether they are or are not using sucrose.

One independent Dr Pepper bottler in Dublin, Texas never switched, giving "Dublin Dr Pepper" a unique taste. Other bottlers have since followed suit, sometimes offering both HFCS and cane sugar sweetened versions in the same market.

External links

• "Is high-fructose corn syrup making us fat? It's a sticky subject" (Article by Karen Gaudette, Seattle Times)
• "Is fructose to blame for obesity?" (Article by Barbara Quinn, McClatchy-Tribune)
• "Does This Goo Make You Groan?" or "A Sweetener With a Bad Rap" (Article by Melanie Warner, New York Times) complete text available
• HFCS Facts (Industry site)
• The Nutrition Reporter "Fructose: Maybe Not So Natural...and Not So Safe"
• "Scientists Stonewall on Spurious Soda Scare"
• Foods containing High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Cargill Foods (Largest provider of HFCS to the food & beverage industry)
• "Audio broadcast linking HFCS Industry to Diabetes/Obesity Epidemic"
• "The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup"
• "Consumption of soft drinks and high-fructose corn syrup linked to obesity and diabetes"
• "The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup"
• "We're drowning in high fructose corn syrup. Do the risks go beyond our waistline?" (San Francisco Chronicle)

References

By Elaine Knehr

International Starch Institute (ISI). 2006. Starch & Sweetener Dictionary Contributing Editor 2005

Sugar Association (SA 2007)

External links

• How corn is turned into corn syrup.
• The chemistry of corn syrup
• Oregon State University Food Resource: Corn Syrup

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