High-Fructose Corn Syrup’s Bad Rap Unfair? Panel Answers Nagging Question of Whether HFCS Is More Likely Than Other Sugars to Cause Weight Gain

Dec. 11, 2008 -- The much maligned processed sweetener high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is no more likely than other sugars to make you gain weight, an expert panel reports.

The panel -- composed of several researchers who had received funding from the corn syrup industry and several who had not -- was convened several years ago following the publication of a 2004 study suggesting a link between the increased use of high-fructose corn syrup and the rise in obesity.

Its findings were reported this week in a supplemental issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).

The panelists agreed that the evidence does not support the contention that high-fructose corn syrup is more likely to cause weight gain than other types of sugar.

But that doesn't mean that the increased use of the high-fructose corn syrup -- used in many soft drinks and a wide variety of processed foods -- has not played a role in the obesity epidemic, panelist and co-author of the 2004 study Barry Popkin, PhD, tells WebMD.

Popkin is a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

"It is very hard to find processed foods without some added sugar, whether it is from high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, or fruit juice concentrate," he says. "All of these sugars add extra calories, and extra calories lead to weight gain."