Corn maze.

• Position: FROM READERS - Letter to the Editor

"Reducing 'Globesity' Begins at Home," [Green Guidance, Sept/Oct 2005] unfortunately mischaracterizes high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a natural, home-grown sweetener from U.S. cornfields, by stating that it raises blood triglyceride levels.

The writer appears to be confusing pure fructose (fed to experimental subjects at 100-percent levels) with HFCS (an approximately equal combination of fructose and glucose, comparable to table sugar). The research apparently being referred to was actually conducted using pure fructose at unrealistically high and potentially toxic levels that are never encountered in human diets. Similar experiments have never been conducted with HFCS, nor would they be expected to yield such results.

As a natural, nutritive sweetener, HFCS can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet. In 1983, the Food and Drug Administration listed HFCS as Generally Recognized as Safe (known as GRAS status) for use in food, and the FDA reaffirmed that ruling in 1996. And according to the American Dietetic Association, consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations as well as individual health goals.

AUDRAE ERICKSON

Corn Refiners Association

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Mindy Pennybacker and Paul McRandle of The Green Guide Institute respond:

We would like to point Ms. Erickson to the study "Dietary Fructose Reduces Circulating Insulin and Leptin, Attenuates Postprandial Suppression of Ghrelin, and Increases Triglycerides in Women," published in the June 2004 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (for full text see http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/6/2963). This study found that drinking high fructose beverages "produced a rapid and prolonged elevation of plasma triglycerides" in women. The authors...