Corn Syrup vs. Cane/Beet Sugar

[Axiom_Blade]

I'd been hearing about the alleged superiority of cane sugar over high-fructose corn syrup for the last year or two. Now that the soft drink companies have released versions of their sodas made with cane sugar, I'm constantly hearing about how it's obviously so much better-tasting and superior in every way.

The truth is, the sugar-cane versions do seem to taste slightly better. But I really can't tell if it's just my imagination. Has anyone ever done a double-blind taste test to see if anyone can actually tell the difference between a cola made with cane sugar or corn syrup?

Neither sweetener has much of a strong taste to begin with; I would think that any difference would just get overpowered by the taste of cola.

 

[YeahDude]

I'd been hearing about the alleged superiority of cane sugar over high-fructose corn syrup for the last year or two. Now that the soft drink companies have released versions of their sodas made with cane sugar, I'm constantly hearing about how it's obviously so much better-tasting and superior in every way.

In large quantites it is detrimental to your health, but in moderate amounts it poses no threat that I am aware of. Now I'm not sure what the average american consumes and if it is close to the high level threshold, or even what the threshold is. I for one do not drink soft drinks, but that is because I do not like the taste. Maybe I should try the cane sugar version to see if I like that. But then again how would my body react to a sudden increase of sugar.

 

[paximperium]

I prefer cane sugar to HFCS but I prefer to drink my poison laced aspartame diet drinks.

 

[Orthoptera]

Has anyone ever done a double-blind taste test to see if anyone can actually tell the difference between a cola made with cane sugar or corn syrup?

I did a double-blind taste test of the sugared Pepsi Throwback and regular corn-syrup Pepsi among my family and various friends. (Doing such tests is a household tradition.) The difference between the two is subtle, but side by side easily noted. Pepsi Throwback has (to me) a slightly harsher note, whereas corn syrup Pepsi was smoother. I preferred regular Pepsi, as did most adults. Kids were about 60/40 in favor of the Throwback Pepsi, although they were not as capable of distinguishing the flavors.

 

[JJM]

The American Dietary Association has information on this, including http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_19399_ENU_HTML.htm

Bottom Line: High fructose corn syrup may be used as a sweetener in processed foods and beverages and is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Both sweeteners contain the same number of calories (4 per gram) and consist of about equal parts of fructose and glucose. ...

 

[balrog666]

HFCS is used only because the US sugar market is highly regulated and restricted (to enrich sugar cane growers in Florida and Louisiana).

 

[shadron]

Balrog, that's a really silly statement. If they really wanted to tout domestic sugar growers, then they wouldn't be using any HFCS in the US at all. The corn industry has enjoyed a $40 billion subsidy since 1990, while the real cane producers are/were in Cuba. That is why HFCS is big.

Since its introduction, HFCS has begun to replace sugar in various processed foods in the USA and Canada. The main reasons for this switch are:

• HFCS is somewhat cheaper in the United States as a result of a combination of corn subsidies and sugar tariffs/quotas. Since the mid-90s US Federal subsidies to corn growers have amounted to $40 billion.
• HFCS is easier to blend and transport because it is a liquid.

Most of the beet producers, in the mid-west, went out of business 30 years ago. Piles of sugar beets at processing plants along US-85 between Denver and Greeley were huge, but the plants are all rusting derelicts now.

More about it's chemistry and real effects:

Cane sugar and beet sugar are both relatively pure sucrose. While the glucose and fructose which are the two components of HFCS are monosaccharides, sucrose is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose linked together with a relatively weak glycosidic bond. A molecule of sucrose (with a chemical formula of C12H22O11) can be broken down into a molecule of glucose (C6H12O6) plus a molecule of fructose (also C6H12O6 — an isomer of glucose) in a weakly acidic environment. Sucrose is broken down during digestion into fructose and glucose through hydrolysis by the enzyme sucrase, by which the body regulates the rate of sucrose breakdown. Without this regulation mechanism, the body has less control over the rate of sugar absorption into the bloodstream.

The fact that sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose units chemically bonded complicates the comparison between cane sugar and HFCS. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are unique, distinct molecules. Sucrose is broken down into its constituent monosaccharides – namely, fructose and glucose – in weakly acidic environments by a process called inversion.[12] This same process occurs in the stomach and in the small intestine during the digestion of sucrose into fructose and glucose. People with sucrase deficiency cannot digest (break down) sucrose and thus exhibit sucrose intolerance.[13]

Sucrose has approximately 4 kcal per gram, while HFCS has approximately 3 kcal per gram. This is because HFCS contains roughly 25% water.

One of the points not made here is that fructose tastes about twice as sweet as sucrose (table sugar) itself does, and perhaps 8 times sweeter than pure glucose (blood sugar, the basic aerobic fuel). HFCS 55 is 55% fructose in pure corn syrup (and considered to be equivalent by weight with table sugar in sweetness), which is 100% glucose; this is why pure Karo pure corn syrup is not terribly sweet. They also make HFCS 20 and HFCS 90.

I'd been hearing about the alleged superiority of cane sugar over high-fructose corn syrup for the last year or two. Now that the soft drink companies have released versions of their sodas made with cane sugar, I'm constantly hearing about how it's obviously so much better-tasting and superior in every way.

I have little doubt that that is exactly what the cane sugar industry wants and paid good money for you to hear.

 

[casebro]

The syrup may have a different texture than the sugar, a since the syrup has twice as many moles of mono-glycerides as the crystal have of di-glycerides. See the "ice cream recipe" thread.

Soda would have the 'weak acid' needed to 'invert' the sugar, but my homebrew recipe needs boiling. I soda is inverted by heating, there just ain't no difference between 'sugar' and cornsyrup.

And I notice I burp after eating di-glycerides. Seems the enzymes that break down the sugars are in saliva, and start working in your mouth. Definitely working in you stomach, where the gaseous hydrogen and oxygen come out. So you burp.

How much does sucrose cost in the rest of the world? about 45-50¢/lb here in California. And last time I drove through Imperial Valley, they were still proccesing sugar beets. Holly sugar, the 'H' in C&H. Oh, they claim it measn California &Hawaii, but the California part is beet sugar. I knew an heiress, named Holly.

 

[Hound01]

The truth is, the sugar-cane versions do seem to taste slightly better. But I really can't tell if it's just my imagination. Has anyone ever done a double-blind taste test to see if anyone can actually tell the difference between a cola made with cane sugar or corn syrup

Does it really matter? If you think it tastes better then it does to you. Sort of like arguing which tates better - tea or coffee.
By the way, is there a price difference between the 2 drinks?

 

[Uncayimmy]

Does it really matter? If you think it tastes better then it does to you. Sort of like arguing which tates better - tea or coffee.
By the way, is there a price difference between the 2 drinks?

In Phoenix, Costco sells "Mexican Coca Cola," which uses sugar. It tastes so much better to me, but it's about $1 per 12 ounce glass bottle when bought in a case. At least I think that's what it works out to. Whatever it is exactly, it is definitely more expensive and harder to get.

 

[Axiom_Blade]

Does it really matter? If you think it tastes better then it does to you. Sort of like arguing which tates better - tea or coffee.
By the way, is there a price difference between the 2 drinks?

Well, if they cost the same, it'd still be an interesting thing to know. As it is, all of the "natural" versions I've seen cost more...so I could judge if the extra cost is worth it, or if I'm just being fooled by marketing.

 

[The Painter]

or if I'm just being fooled by marketing.

Of course you are. They spend more on marketing than they do on sweeteners. It's the same with bottled water. Some people will only buy one particular brand, even thought they are all the same. When taste is so similar that it is hard to distinguish one from the other, marketing wins.

 

[fuelair]

I'd been hearing about the alleged superiority of cane sugar over high-fructose corn syrup for the last year or two. Now that the soft drink companies have released versions of their sodas made with cane sugar, I'm constantly hearing about how it's obviously so much better-tasting and superior in every way.

The truth is, the sugar-cane versions do seem to taste slightly better. But I really can't tell if it's just my imagination. Has anyone ever done a double-blind taste test to see if anyone can actually tell the difference between a cola made with cane sugar or corn syrup?

Neither sweetener has much of a strong taste to begin with; I would think that any difference would just get overpowered by the taste of cola.

I can only tell you that when coke switched over to new coke, although the can was unchanged and the convention (Kubla Khan, Nashville, I was running Huckster hall) had simply bought cases of Coke as in the Krogers they got them at, I knew, at first, that something was wrong with the coke. Since I had not been paying any real attention to the reformulation thing (companies claim that all the time with just barely enough addition/subtraction to be able to make such claim), I just assumed a mess up at the plant. Then others mentioned the reason and I realized what had happened. After the two or three months when coke switched back, it took a while before I realized that though the new old coke was a lot like the original there was still something off in the taste. It was over a year before I found out what it was.... but blind drinking it I still noticed the differences. It would have been a lot easir if I was drinking fountain cokes (more of the coke syrup in the syrup/carbonated water - I believe the ratio to have been app. 5 CO2 to 1 in bottles & cans and app4.5 CO2 to syrup fountain).

PS: If any Nashville fen or SMOFs read this, Steve F. is down here for Oasis and updated me on what's happening up there. Tell K. to get healthy!! I would have been up there harrassing him had I known. Best to all and condolences on our losses - that was a big all at once hit - but then it's been 9 years since my last(the last) Rivercon. Best, LW

 

[Dr. Imago]

As has been touched on already, HFCS - namely the fructose part - provides an excellent biosynthetic substrate for triacylglycerol synthesis and build-up of Kreb's cycle intermediates. This effectively "shunts" the metabolic products towards fat anabolism. This is the "dirty little secret" that the companies who use this sweetener don't really want you to be fully aware of.

Now, couple that with the fact that some people drink up to (or more than) 100 oz. of HFCS-sweetened soda per day (ever seen the size of a Big Gulp?), and you've got a recipe for trouble. Likewise, HFCS is a common, cheap sweetener in a variety of other food products.

Bottom line: if you have to drink soda (and I'm not recommending that you do), drink the diet, caffeine-free variety. This substance, in my very humble and not-fully-able-to-be-substantiated opinion, is likely one of the primary causes of the current obesity and diabetes epidemic.

~Dr. Imago

 

[casebro]

As has been touched on already, HFCS - namely the fructose part - provides an excellent biosynthetic substrate for triacylglycerol synthesis....

~Dr. Imago

Which makes Fructose the only known "essential carbohydrate".

 

[YeahDude]

As has been touched on already, HFCS - namely the fructose part - provides an excellent biosynthetic substrate for triacylglycerol synthesis and build-up of Kreb's cycle intermediates. This effectively "shunts" the metabolic products towards fat anabolism. This is the "dirty little secret" that the companies who use this sweetener don't really want you to be fully aware of.

Now, couple that with the fact that some people drink up to (or more than) 100 oz. of HFCS-sweetened soda per day (ever seen the size of a Big Gulp?), and you've got a recipe for trouble. Likewise, HFCS is a common, cheap sweetener in a variety of other food products.

Bottom line: if you have to drink soda (and I'm not recommending that you do), drink the diet, caffeine-free variety. This substance, in my very humble and not-fully-able-to-be-substantiated opinion, is likely one of the primary causes of the current obesity and diabetes epidemic.

~Dr. Imago

My brain must have subconsciously known this and interpret's the taste of soda as 'bad'. Now if it would only do the same for cheezeburgerz.

 

[Dr. Imago]

Which makes Fructose the only known "essential carbohydrate".

Interesting concept. But, fortunately, there are other dietary sources of triacylglycerol, namely from fat catabolism, that suffice. So, it hardly makes fructose "essential". People can live and do just fine having never consumed one molecule of fructose.

However...

The fact that we have enzymes that break down fructose, some of which are absent in certain disease states, is further illustrative of the fact that fructose is tolerable in the diet for most individuals, and that we evolved to be able to process the disaccharide, sucrose. The problem arises, though, with the extraordinarily high levels of fructose in certain "fortified" foods, such as in sweetened soft-drinks, and this causes the issue of "shunting" into fat anabolism. Generally, fructose itself is not problematic provided this doesn't become a primary dietary source of carbohydrate.

~Dr. Imago

 

[Dr. Imago]

My brain must have subconsciously known this and interpret's the taste of soda as 'bad'. Now if it would only do the same for cheezeburgerz.

Moderation, my friend. Moderation.

~Dr. Imago

 

[littlehulkster]

Of course, the simple solution here would be to consume sweet foods and drinks in moderation and exercise more, but this seems to be a task far beyond the means of many people.

 

[shadron]

Yes, of course.