HFCS and Sugar

[SharkeyNJ]

After listening to the "HFCS Toxic or Tame" episode of Skeptoid I was doing a little browsing on the topic and stumbled up on these comments by Scott K. of a healthy eating community website...

"...HFCS on the other hand has unbound glucose and fructose molecules. While I’m not exactly sure of the mechanism, these unbound sugars hit the bloodstream as reactive compounds known as carbonyls."

Further...

"Reactive carbonyls, which have been linked to tissue damage and complications of diabetes, are elevated in the blood of people with diabetes. A single can of soda, however, has five times that concentration of reactive carbonyls. Old-fashioned table sugar, on the other hand, has no reactive carbonyls because its fructose and glucose molecules are “bound” and therefore stable, unlike the “unbound” molecules of HFCS. Sounds like lots of tissue damage from just a single soda."

Can anyone address these claims? Brian didn't cover this angle on the podcast.

[fuelair]

bound means the fructose molecule and the glucose molecule are bound together as a disaccheride (two sugars ) molecule This processes differently than individual fructose or glucose molecules in your body (among other things, fructose over time won't signal the body to send out insulin). Should note, sugar in an acidic solution (sodas/fruit drinks) will break down partially into fructose and glucose so....

[Madalch]

After listening to the "HFCS Toxic or Tame" episode of Skeptoid I was doing a little browsing on the topic and stumbled up on these comments by Scott K. of a healthy eating community website...

"...HFCS on the other hand has unbound glucose and fructose molecules. While I’m not exactly sure of the mechanism, these unbound sugars hit the bloodstream as reactive compounds known as carbonyls."

Further...

"Reactive carbonyls, which have been linked to tissue damage and complications of diabetes, are elevated in the blood of people with diabetes. A single can of soda, however, has five times that concentration of reactive carbonyls. Old-fashioned table sugar, on the other hand, has no reactive carbonyls because its fructose and glucose molecules are “bound” and therefore stable, unlike the “unbound” molecules of HFCS. Sounds like lots of tissue damage from just a single soda."

Can anyone address these claims? Brian didn't cover this angle on the podcast.

Carbonyls are not compounds- they're functional groups within the molecules consisting of a carbon with a double bond to oxygen. Glucose and fructose have them (in their acyclic forms), sucrose does not.

However, for sucrose to be metabolized, it must first be hydrolyzed to glucose and fructose, so I'm fairly certain that anyone who says that anyone who says that glucose/fructose is worse for you than sucrose is full of it.

[SharkeyNJ]

Thanks for the info!

[NeilC]

My favorite part of this podcast was: "I know when I'm looking for diet advice I go to someone who looks, and eats, like Michael Moore"!