DIET DIEMA OF FRUCTOSE Fructose Syrup Production: NA 66%, China 10%, Japan 6%, EU 5%, Turkey 4, and S Korea 3%

Global Market: US $ 8'873 (2023), Billion (2024) and 11,241 billion in 2031.

Starch Sources: Corn, Wheat, Rice, tapioca, beet sugar

The problem is fructose and not the Low-Cost HFCS ?per se.

THE Dilemma

It is not the HFCS per se that is the problem. The problem is over consumption of fructose by ways of fruits, honey, HFCS, invert sugar, and syrups.? Only the liver can metabolize fructose and, here in the US, we have been overloading it with consequences of fat and cholesterol production and build up,

Diet Dilemma Wrongly Attributed to HFCS alone

Often talked about dietary problems with fructose are 1. Unregulated metabolism, 2. weight gain, 3. High cholesterol, 4. High triglyceride, 5. High uric acid and hypertension, 7. Oxidative stress, 8. Increased lipogenesis, and 9. inability of all cells (other than cytosols in liver) to metabolize fructose.? These problems result whether we eat HFCS or invert sugar. Malabsorption and altered gut health factors are of much more serious concern to the United States of America where half of the caloric intake is now by way of high fructose corn syrup. As a matter of fact, a US consumer uses more fructose per day than is recommended for the total sweeteners.

HFCS and Invert Sugar (both have 50/50 Glucose- fructose Ratio

Except for the price advantage, Invert sugar is equally good in terms of food process and product advantages.

Production and Utilization

At the present, global production of HFCS is 9% of all sweeteners. First produced in 1970 by the Clinton Corn processing Co (now ADM), high fructose corn syrup by name as a food sweetener has run into serious controversy as to metabolic disorders. Sweetener consumption in 2022 in USA was 66.47 Kg per year, similar to that in Norway. Only 25 Kg of total sweetener was from HFCS. The daily consumption of 182.1 grams is way above the recommended levels of 36 grams by American Heart association and only 25 grams by WHO. ?Per capita consumption in European and Asia Pacific is almost twice of these recommended levels. However, the global consumption is projected to continue rising at a CAGR of 5.12%. In the US in 2024, US invert sugar market of $2.1 billion ?is projected to reach 3.3 billion by 2034, a CAGR growth at 6.7% adding more fructose to the American diet. ?

We have to control fructose consumption by limiting both daily HFCS and invert sugar intakes. We have to do with care in view of recommended higher intake of fruits, three servings daily of fruit alone place us overboard with respect to daily sugar and fructose consumption.

The advantage in using fructose by way of HFCS is its low price and not the functional advantage that we can get from invert sugar also. Stability and non-crystallization during processing and finished product storage are the advantages due to fructose irrespective of the source.

Use of fructose from HFCS or Invert sugar will rise during the next decade for use in ice cream, sorbet, gelato, jellies, fudge, ganache, taffy, soft-baked cookies, cakes, frozen cocktails and other iced beverages, and flavored syrups beyond the major uses as beverage, baked goods, cereals, and condiments as the other countries catch up in producing and consuming these up-scalish products.

The Answer to the Dilemma

Can we limit fructose consumption to a safe less than 20 grams per day? We have to move like SPAR did in Australia. SPAR (SamenworkenProfiteren Allen Regalmatig) Australia Ltd reduced 3800 tons of sweeteners from its 350 branded products in 2023. One billion sugar cubes are no longer in its products.

On the contrary, demand for sweeteners is growing in China, India, and Japan in view of needs for more US style processed foods.

The task is serious when one medium apple with 20 grams sugar is our daily upper limit. So is a doughnut and candy bar. ?In comparison, one banana provides 20 grams, one cup blue berry provides 15 grams, and 1 cup water melon provides 12 grams. ??Therefore, even the fruits, we need to choose carefully. Sugary foods like a 16.9 oz cola with 56 gram of sugar and a slice of pound cake with 38 grams sugar make the task much more serious.

?The fructose dilemma is not limited to the current formulated foods. It relates to the utilization of high capital corn and wheat processing plants that could be converted to producing feed-stocks for renewable biodegradable plastics – polyhydroxybutyrate (Nature 532: 151, 2016 and polycarbonates ( Amer Chem Soc 135(18), 2013). ?Single use cutlery and biodegradable plastic bags is a success story in China and USA.