HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AND THE BRAIN Most of us are familiar with high fructose corn syrup, the ubiquitous, inexpensive, and oft-criticized sweetener found in a multitude of American foods from soft drinks to cereal. Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a natural simple sugar found in fruits, honey and some vegetables. It is an isomer to glucose; in other words, it has the same molecular formula as glucose (C6H12O6) but a different arrangement of atoms, forming an aldehyde group in glucose and a ketone group in fructose. As a result, fructose appears more frequently in the active open-chain configuration. This may seem like a minor difference, but in the brain this molecular configuration causes greater reactivity with amines as described in the Maillard reaction (2). This increased reactivity ultimately leads to more advanced glycation end products (AGEs), that are associated with diabetic complications and neurodegeneration [3,4]. However, all the negative impacts of fructose, most often in the form of high fructose corn syrup, are far more expansive than this. Thus, it is worth examining the detrimental long-term effects of excessive fructose consumption. As mentioned above, not all monosaccharides are created equal,
The USDA estimates an American eats
131 grams per day
High fructose corn syrup consumption increased between 1970 -1990
1,000% amount of high fructose corn syrup the average American consumed in 2009
grams
of American adults consume 1-6 beverages high in high fuctose corn syrup per week.
BY MINHA KIM // ART BY WILLIAM LA 10 | JOURNYS | FALL 2017