High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same.

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

As noted by the American Medical Association in June 2008, “Because the composition of HFCS and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.”

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that high fructose corn syrup is responsible for diabetes. All caloric sweeteners trigger an insulin response in the body. In fact, table sugar, honey and high fructose corn syrup trigger about the same insulin release, because they contain nearly equal amounts of fructose and glucose.

Many confuse pure “fructose” with “high fructose corn syrup,” a sweetener that never contains fructose alone, but always in combination with a roughly equivalent amount of a second sugar (glucose). Recent studies that have examined pure fructose - often at abnormally high levels - have been inappropriately applied to high fructose corn syrup and have caused significant consumer confusion.