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Get The Facts About High Fructose Corn Syrup, A Sugar Made From Corn

It is important that consumers recognize added sugars in the diet. Despite its confusing name, high fructose corn syrup is simply a sugar made from corn - or an added sugar in the diet. It is not high in fructose as its name would suggest. High fructose corn syrup is composed of the same two simple sugars (fructose and glucose) as table sugar, honey and maple syrup.

There has been much confusion about this natural sweetener made from corn. We want to clear up this confusion by calling this ingredient what it is: corn sugar. And that is why we are asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow for an alternate name for this ingredient on food and beverage labels.
Read More About Corn Sugar

Press Releases

Corn Refiners Petition FDA for Use of Corn Sugar as Alternate Name for High Fructose Corn Syrup

September 14, 2010 – In an effort to help clarify the labeling of food products for consumers, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow manufacturers the option of using ‘corn sugar’ as an alternative name for high fructose corn syrup. Read More >>>

"Because the comparison of HFCS and sucrose are so similar, particular on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose." - American Medical Association Report 3 of the Council on Science and Public Health (A-08) June 2008 "HFCS is the chemical and nutritional equivalent of table sugar (sucrose). The two substances have the same calories, the same chemical composition, and are metabolized identically." - Arthur Frank, M.D., Medical Director, George Washington University Weight Management Program, The Washington Times, December 6, 2006 "The Food and Drug Administration stated, referring to a process commonly used by the corn refining industry, that it 'would not object to the use of the term "natural" on a product containing the HFCS by (that) manufacturing process ...' " - Geraldine A. June, Supervisor, Product Evaluation and Labeling Team, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Letter to Corn Refiners Association, July 3, 2008 In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally listed HFCS as safe for use in food and reaffirmed that decision in 1996. The FDA noted that "the saccharide composition (glucose to fructose ratio) of HFCS is approximately the same as that of honey, invert sugar, and the disaccharide sucrose [table sugar]." - Food and Drug Administration, Federal Register, August 23, 1996 "Once absorbed into the bloodstream, the two sweeteners [sugar and high fructose corn syrup] are indistinguishable." - American Dietetic Association, Hot Topics paper on high fructose corn syrup, December 2008

Hot Topics

Why is High Fructose Corn Syrup in Foods?

High fructose corn syrup provides many consumer benefits and often plays a key role in the integrity of food and beverage products that has little to do with sweetening.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Metabolism

High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

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