Sugar Producers Say Corn Syrup Not the Same

Third, the sugar groups believe the campaign's claim that "your body can't tell the difference" between corn syrup and sugar is "false and misleading," Fox said.

The sugar groups point out that the enzyme, sucrase, is necessary to break up the molecular bonds of fructose and glucose, which are in equal parts, of sugar before they can enter the blood stream to be metabolized.

"So there's an additional step for digestion of real sugar. That step does not exist for high fructose corn syrup," Fox said.

The Corn Refiners Association has collected a number of quotes from physicians that say otherwise.

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"The real deal about high fructose corn syrup is that your body doesn't see it any differently than sugar or honey. Why? Because HFCS is comprised of approximately equal ratios of glucose and fructose just like sugar (sucrose) and honey. It is purified from corn with no artificial ingredients as sugar is derived from sugar cane and sugar beets," Susan Mitchell, Ph.D., R.D., L.N., states in one quote.

Katz said high-fructose corn syrup, just like table sugar, is a mix of glucose and fructose. In table sugar, it's a 50:50 mix of both. In 'high' fructose corn syrup, it can be as much as 55 percent fructose, and 45 percent glucose.

"But that's what all the fuss is about," he said, "maximally, a 5 percent variance in the proportion of fructose. Sugar is sugar. We eat too much of it and the dose makes the poison."