Today, over 40 percent of caloric sweeteners that are added to food and drinks in the United States is in the form of High-Fructose Corn Syrup. “HFCS” can be found on the ingredients list of sodas and most processed foods. Lots of people think of it as just another form of sugar, but HFCS and normal sugar have different effects on your body.

HFCS is made of glucose and fructose like normal sugar, but it has higher concentration of fructose. This is done by chemically separating fructose from glucose, creating “free fructose.” Naturally occurring fructose in fruits and cane sugar is bonded to other sugars (i.e. glucose), so it does not cause this problem.

Your body cannot digest fructose like it digests glucose—fructose can only be metabolized by your liver. When fructose travels straight into your liver, the majority is converted into fat, through a process called lipogenesis.

Because of this rapid absorption, fructose does not stimulate insulin release or leptin creation like glucose does. These two are key signals in regulation of food intake; glucose depends on insulin to enter body cells, which sends satiety signals to your brain. Leptin is a hormone that aids in suppressing your appetite, and low leptin concentration has been associated with increased hunger and high body fat. So HFCS, with a lack of the inhibitory effect on food intake, allows you to eat more than normal sugar does.

So why is HFCS so common?

The answer lies in corn. And money (It’s all about the money). Don’t forget that HFCS is not sugar, it’s “corn sugar.” Because of government subsidies, corn is very, very cheap, and in 1975 HFCS began making a presence in processed foods for its low cost compared to sugar.

However the most important thing to realize about HFCS is this: it’s a “big red flag” for processed, poor quality food. Anything that has HFCS in the ingredients list is most likely going to be empty calories, meaning calories that don’t provide nutrients or anything positive for your body. These foods almost certainly contain fats, salts, and chemicals that you do not want floating around in your blood stream.

So, to review all of the facts:

1. Free fructose flows directly into your liver and forces it to work extra hard.2. Free fructose is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar, a

process called lipogenesis. 3. HFCS is a signal for empty calories, which don’t do anything for you except make you fat. 4. It’s made from corn, which can be genetically modified.

My point is, quantity matters—avoid too much sugar. A little is fine. But stay away from High-Fructose Corn Syrup.