quote:
But not worse than sucrose.
Right?
Not if we're just talking about fructose it seems. If we get specially into HFCS as the experiment you noted in the OP, there does seem to be a difference when consuming HFCS and sucrose. I haven't found anything on just fructose (not HFCS) vs sucrose.
Concerning HFCS, I found this article and I'm not a chemist so I can't really comment on anything from that standpoint. Looking at the results something is different between those two specific sugars.
A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain
High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.
So I guess the question is does the imbalanced ratio make a difference to our bodies?
How are the higher saccharides metabolized by our bodies?
Does the "extra step" fructose has to endure when ingested as sucrose make a difference in how the body responds to it?
Is it the combination of all the above that causes our bodies to react differently to HFCS than sucrose when it comes to weight gain?
From the tests there does seem to be a difference whether we understand it totally or not. I haven't been able to find anything on the larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides. At least nothing I can understand anyway.
The rats tested reacted differently. They still seem to be searching for the why.