Last week, the United States President Donald Trump said that Coca-Cola agreed to replace corn syrup with high fructose with cane sugar in his American cola. But is one of the two sweeteners really better for health?
Interview with André Marette, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University, researcher at the Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec and at the Institute on Nutrition and Functional Foods and Author of the Book The truth about sugar.
In a message published on social networks, the American president described the sugar version of cane as simply better
. What do studies say? Is the consumption of high fructose corn syrup really worse than that of cane sugar?
Regardless of the type of sugar that we consume, the long -term effects are very harmful.
When we look at all studies over the twenty years, there is no evidence that allows us to say that one is worse than the other. It remains nebulous.
The current consensus is that there are not enough scientific evidence to say that corn syrup is guilty of epidemics of obesity, diabetes or liver diseases in the world.
There are animal studies that have demonstrated small differences between modified corn syrup and sucrose. But other animal studies have not confirmed it.
A meta-analysis (new window) Made in 2022 has shown that high -fructose -high corn syrup and sucrose have similar effects on weight, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure. The results suggest, however, that corn syrup is associated with levels of inflammation than sucrosis.
What is the difference in the chemical structure of these two sugars?
The difference between the two sugars is quite minimal. When you take sugar from sugar cane, it is sucrose, which contains 50 % glucose and 50 % fructose. These two molecules are linked by a chemical link.
High fructose corn syrup is made from starch sucrose, which comes from corn. It is said with a high fructose content because when you take corn starch and separate it into different glucose molecules, the food industry adds isomeric glucose and transforms part of the fructose glucose with the help of enzymes.
So, it becomes 55 % fructose and 45 % glucose, instead of 50-50. There is 5 % more fructose. In addition, molecules [de fructose et de glucose] are no longer linked by a chemical link; They are already dissociated in the product.
André Marette is a professor and researcher at the Quebec University Cardiology and Pneumology Institute – Laval University.
Photo : Radio-Canada
If they have a different chemical structure, do these two sugars have a different effect on metabolism?
In terms of calories, it’s exactly the same. A molecule of fructose or glucose is roughly the same amount of calories.
A can 335 ml of Coca-Cola contains 34 g of sugar. According to public health authorities in the United States and Canada, it is recommended to limit added sugars to less than 10 % of the daily caloric contribution. This is equivalent to around 50 grams of sugars added per day for a diet of 2000 calories.
The difference is not in terms of calories, but in the way the molecule is metabolized by the body.
Fructose is captured much faster by the liver. With glucose, it’s more complicated; He must go through several stages before arriving at the liver. This is why large amounts of fructose consumed can lead to foie gras, which is one of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
There is also a study in the Journal of clinical investigation (new window) Who compared the effect of consuming three sugary drinks containing just sucking and that of consuming three sugary drinks containing just fructose. After 12 weeks, the two groups had gained the same weight, but those who had consumed drinks with fructose had more abdominal fat and their liver was greater.
Knowing this, should we worry about the consumption of modified corn syrup?
Health risks, in my opinion, are real.
Modified corn syrup is everywhere in processed foods; We consume it from our birth. It is possible that after several years, the 5 % additional fructose have an impact. But we don’t know because most human studies have been done over 10 or 12 weeks.
If we had [une proportion] 65 % fructose, maybe we would see differences faster.
It would be necessary to finance a study over a few months, even a few years, to see the long -term difference of each of these sugars. I would not be surprised to see differences.
I believe that in general, the less the food is transformed, the less the health effects are harmful. It is better to consume cane or beet sugar – natural sugars – rather than modified corn syrup. But in the end, we should decrease our sugar consumption, regardless of the source.
Modified corn syrup consumption decreases in several countries, since consumers are worried about their health. Can Coca-Cola’s decision be seen as good news for the health of Americans?
In fact, it could have a perverse effect. It could encourage Americans to consume more, saying that at least they consume sugar that is not chemically modified.
It will be extremely difficult to demonstrate that this change will cause better health among Americans.
In fact, Trump’s announcement surprises me. I don’t understand it. Because industry [du sirop de maïs modifié] is really important in the American Midwest and has been strongly subsidized by the government since the 1970s. Modified corn syrup is used in the United States because it costs much less.
The United States has almost no sugar cane, so it must be imported. We know that Mr. Trump likes to put prices on everything … It will be expensive to put cane sugar in Coca-Cola.
According to several American media, Trump is very fond of Coke Diet. According to Wall Street Journalhe even had a button in the oval office installed to give him coke diet cans. Should the Americans turn to diet drinks?
A glass of Coke Diet of President Trump on his desk.
Photo : Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
Unfortunately, sweeteners like Aspartame and Stevia have never fulfilled their mission, that of reducing the risk of developing diabetes.
Studies have shown that there is no benefit to drink diet coke. And even, in some cases it can be worse than consuming coke with natural sugar.
In the case of aspartame, there are lots of studies that have shown its harmful effects, especially on the intestinal microbiota.
On the other hand, Stevia, for the moment, does not seem to cause too many harmful effects for health. It seems to be less bad to consume natural false sugars than forced false sugars.
