No Reason to Switch from High Fructose Corn Syrup Says Corn Refiners Association
Response to recent news reports focusing on product reformulations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2009
CONTACT: Audrae Erickson, President
(202) 331-1634

WASHINGTON, DC – The Corn Refiners Association today said there is no reason to switch from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to sugar in response to recent media coverage surrounding the anticipated re-launch of certain products.

“There is no nutritional benefit gained by replacing high fructose corn syrup with another caloric sweetener. High fructose corn syrup is a natural sweetener made from corn, is functionally superior to sugar, equally sweet, has the same number of calories, and is handled similarly by the body,” said Audrae Erickson, president, Corn Refiners Association.

High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it’s actually a simple sweetener, made from corn, that is nutritionally the same as sugar. Like table sugar and honey, high fructose corn syrup contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients or color additives.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”m Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also concluded that HFCS can be described as a “natural” product. Specifically, the FDA stated “we would not object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing the HFCS produced by this manufacturing process….” — referring to the process commonly employed in the corn refining industry.

Even former critics of high fructose corn syrup dispel long-held myths and distance themselves from earlier speculation about the sweetener’s link to obesity as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition released its 2008 Vol. 88 supplement’s comprehensive scientific review.

For more information about high fructose corn syrup, please visit www.SweetSurprise.com.

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CRA is the national trade association representing the corn refining (wet milling) industry of the United States. CRA and its predecessors have served this important segment of American agribusiness since 1913. Corn refiners manufacture sweeteners, starch, oil and other products from corn.