What is high-fructose corn syrup?

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Nutrition, Health & Wellness

What is high-fructose corn syrup? HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) are corp syrups which have been processed with enzymes to convert some of the glucose present in them into fructose.
In UK high-fructose corn syrup is called as glucose-fructose syrup and in Canada it is called as glucose/fructose. In United States HFCS is typically used as sugar substitute in the consumer products due to lower prices than imported beet/cane sugar. Lower corn production costs, subsidies for corn production and import tariff on imported sugar from foreign countries have made high-fructose corn syrup cost effective for food sweetening in U.S.

In 1976 FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), had classified HFCS as "generally recognized as safe (GRAS)". Most of the processed foods, beverages, soft drinks, breads, cereal preparations and fast foods in U.S. use high-fructose corn syrup for imparting sweetness. There are gradation in high-fructose corn syrup as HFCS 42, HFCS 55 and HFCS 90 in which the number informs us the percentage of fructose in it.

HFCS 42, containing 42% fructose and 53% glucose is used primarily in baked products and foods. HFCS 55, containing 55% fructose and 42% glucose is primarily used in soft drinks. High-fructose corn syrup 90, containing 90% fructose and 10% glucose has use in some speciality preparations and is blended with HFCS 42 for making HFCS 55.