Corn syrup

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Corn syrup on a black surface, raised with a toothpick and with white light reflection on the front.

Corn syrup is a glucose syrup that is enzymatically made from the starch of corn . During the production of isoglucose by another enzymatic process arises from corn syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup (are also common abbreviations JRC or HFCS , of English high fructose corn syrup ), especially in the United States . According to the German Sugar Type Ordinance, a glucose syrup that contains more than 5% fructose by weight in dry matter must be referred to as a "glucose-fructose syrup". If the fructose content predominates, it must be referred to as “fructose-glucose syrup”.

Sweetness

Fructose has a significantly higher sweetening power than glucose . In the USA, the variant processed into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is of great economic and health importance, since it is used there as a caloric sweetener for most soft drinks and is mainly made from GM maize . Due to protectionist measures, the price of sugar in the United States is significantly higher than on the world market. At the same time, corn syrup is very cheap due to agricultural subsidies , which together lead to the use of HFCS as a sugar substitute. While corn is grown on a large scale in the US, sucrose made from sugar cane in the US mostly comes from abroad. Corn syrup has been manufactured inexpensively since 1972 by converting corn starch with the enzyme amylase and other starch-splitting enzymes. This first HFCS variant (HFCS-42) has a fructose content of 42% and is mainly used for the production of sweet drinks and canned food.

literature

  • Hella Jürgens et al .: Consuming Fructose-sweetened Beverages Increases Body Adiposity in Mice. In: Obesity Research. Volume 13, No. 7, 2005, pp. 1146-1156, doi: 10.1038 / oby.2005.136

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Sugar Types Ordinance, pdf
  2. http://www.sustainabletable.org/704/high-fructose-corn-syrup-if-this-doesn-t-convince-you-nothing-wil
  3. Gen-Food: Corn for the World . In: The time . No. 35/2004 ( online ).
  4. http://ecowatch.com/2015/01/19/high-fructose-corn-syrup-unhealthy/
  5. S. Fields: The fat of the land: do agricultural subsidies foster poor health? In: Environmental health perspectives. Volume 112, number 14, October 2004, pp. A820 – A823, PMID 15471721 , PMC 1247588 (free full text): HFCS's market success may be at least partly a result of two complementary government policies. Farm subsidies may reduce its cost, and tariffs plus quota restrictions on imports of foreign sugar make it a better buy than alternatives.
  6. Alexandra Wexler: US Sugar Soars Above World Prices: Candy Makers Prepare Price Increases (en) . In: Wall Street Journal , December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2016. 
  7. Transgenic database: Amylase ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.transgen.de