New Study Reveals High Levels Of Toxicity In High-Fructose Corn Syrup

SALT LAKE CITY -- There is more bitter news for the sweet stuff. A new study by University of Utah biologists strongly suggests that the fructose-glucose mixture found in high-fructose corn syrup is more toxic than sucrose or table sugar, reducing both the reproduction and lifespan of female rodents. The new study is just the latest high-profile research to show potentially harmful effects of the artificial sweetener that widely used in snack foods, confections and beverages.

"This is the most robust study showing there is a difference between high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar at human-relevant doses," says biology professor Wayne Potts, senior author of a new study scheduled for publication in the March 2015 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

The study found no differences in survival, reproduction or territoriality of male mice on the high-fructose and sucrose diets. The researchers say that may be because both sugars are equally toxic to male mice.

Although both high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar contain roughly equal amounts of fructose and glucose, in corn syrup they are separate molecules called monosaccharides. In contrast, sucrose or table sugar is a disaccharide compound formed when fructose and glucose bond chemically.

According to the new study, female mice on the fructose-glucose diet had death rates 1.87 times higher than females on the sucrose diet. They also produced 26.4% fewer offspring.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

SOURCE:
http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/fructose-more-toxic-than-table-sugar-in-mice

IT'S BIOLOGY:Bathed in reddish-pink light --nighttime for mice -- University of Utah biologists James Ruff (l.) and Wayne Potts stand in front of a series of "mouse barns" used in their latest study on the toxicity of sugars. The mice were fed doses proportionate to the sugar consumption of many people. [Photo by Andy Brimhall, University of Utah Marketing and Communications]

IS IT SAFE?A mouse peers out from a nesting box during a University of Utah study that found the fructose-glucose combination in high-fructose corn syrup is more toxic in mice than the fructose-glucose compound in table sugar. [Photo by Douglas Cornwall, University of Utah]