Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | HFCS vs. glucose-fructose syrup (Long Post)

PowerAde, made by Coca-Cola, contains HFCS. Gatorade contains "glucose-fructose syrup". As a result of a couple of threads on the Boards, I wanted to find out if they were the same thing. I couldn't find anything definitive using Google, so I emailed Coca-Cola and Gatorade. I show their responses below.

Based on this, I think HFCS and "glucose-fructose syrup" are NOT the same and I think glucose-fructose syrup might be safe for IBS:

- HFCS is 55% fructose
- The glucose-fructose syrup in Gatorade is only 42% fructose
- According to Coca-Cola, table sugar (sucrose) is 50% glucose and 50% fructose

If these numbers are correct, it would seem that any glucose/fructose combination that contains 50% or less fructose would be safe - or at least safe enough to try cautiously.

Having said that, however, I would take Coca-Cola's claim that sucrose (table sugar) is 50% glucose and 50% fructose with a grain of salt, so to speak. Somewhere in the great thicket of the Internet, I think I read that in sucrose the fructose is somehow bound by the glucose. If I actually read this and it's actually true, it may mean that the fructose in table sugar is less available to make digestive trouble. I wonder - maybe someone else knows - if HFCS is so sweet partly because the Japanese chemists who developed it figured out a way to unbind the fructose from the glucose?

One more thing, and this is pretty much a guess based on some labeling regulations I found on the Internet: It looks like "glucose-fructose syrup" can contain anywhere from 6% to 50% fructose; if a syrup contains more than 50% fructose, it must be called "fructose-gluctose syrup".

I still say that if I'd known I was going to end up with IBS, I would have taken chemistry in college.

I hope this helps - rather than just confusing things more. As always with IBS, we all just have to try for ourselves, but at least this makes me willing to try something with "glucose-fructose syrup", rather than just dismissing it out of hand.

Here are my emails to PowerAde and Gatorade and their responses. (I have no idea what Gatorade is trying to convey by their last line regarding honey.):

I wrote to PowerAde (Coca-Cola):

PowerAde contains high fructose corn syrup; Gatorade contains glucose-fructose syrup. Can you tell me if the high fructose corn syrup in PowerAde and the glucose-fructose syrup in Gatorade are the same product? If not, can you explain the difference?

PowerAde (Coca-Cola) responded:

Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company.

You may wish to contact Gatorade regarding the ingredients used in that product. However, we have provided some information below that we thought might be helpful.

Sucrose is composed of half glucose and half fructose and is obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets. The HFCS that is used in our soft drinks is derived from corn and is composed of approximately half glucose (45%) and fructose (55%).

If you have additional questions or comments, please visit our website again.

Lesley
Industry and Consumer Affairs
The Coca-Cola Company

I wrote to Gatorade:

Gatorade contains "glucose-fructose syrup". Is this the same as "high fructose corn syrup"? If not, can you explain what the difference is and what percent of fructose the syrup contains?
Thanks.

Gatorade responded:

Thank you for contacting us with an inquiry about the glucose-fructose syrup contained in Gatorade Thirst Quencher.

The glucose-fructose solution used in Gatorade is a more accurate description for one of the carbohydrate sugars in Gatorade, which is 58% glucose and 42% fructose. For that reason, glucose-fructose syrup is the appropriate descriptor. This is a descriptor that complies with FDA labeling codes.

Gatorade Thirst Quencher contains these carbohydrate sugars plus one other--sucrose--to provide a scientific mix of sucrose, glucose and fructose, which assures rapid fluid delivery. Gatorade uses all three sugars because they are absorbed at different rates and that is exactly what you want in a sports drink--sugars that help maximize fluid absorption to help rapidly replace sweat losses. Gatorade uses the combination of glucose and fructose because it increases carbohydrate use by active muscles, an important part of helping athletes improve their performance in practice or competition.

Drinks that contain only fructose or high levels of fructose should be avoided in beverages consumed during activity because they can't be absorbed as fast and can cause digestive distress. Maltodextrins or glucose polymers, whether from rice carbohydrates or other sources, offer no advantage in fluid or energy delivery.

Mother nature has her own version of High Fructose Corn Syrup--and it's called honey.

We hope this information is helpful.

Jennifer

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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