Whenever I hear that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may destroy the human race — or at least ruin its health — I immediately wonder about honey. Why? Because while many people consider high-fructose corn syrup dangerous to human livers, they tout honey as an elixir. Yet, the difference between HFCS and honey is minimal, especially considering the amount of fructose in each.
We beekeepers know that honey is primarily fructose and glucose in proportions that vary with the source of the nectar. We also know that higher ratios of fructose to glucose yield honey that is slow to granulate. Lots of us honey lovers seek those varietals, treasures like sourwood, gallberry, and maple — each with enough fructose to make your liver quiver — but no one warns us against eating too much honey.1
So my question here is simple: If fructose is fructose, what’s the difference between high-fructose corn syrup and high-fructose honey? And why is one considered healthful and one not?
First, sugar syrup
To understand the difference between these sweet syrups, it helps to revisit sucrose. Most of us are familiar with sucrose in its granulated form, known as table sugar. We buy it in five or 10-pound paper sacks that leak drifts of sparkly granules into the car before we get home from the grocery. Or, if you’re a beekeeper, perhaps you buy pallets of 50-pound sacks to make syrup for your bees.
Technically, sucrose is a disaccharide or double sugar, meaning it’s a combination of two simpler sugars, known as monosaccharides. Both monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose, and galactose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose, maltose, and lactose) classify as simple sugars because they are small, easily digested molecules. One quick split turns a disaccharide into two monosaccharides.
Three of the simple sugars — glucose, fructose, and galactose — share an identical chemical formula: C6H1206. Only the arrangement of their atoms differs. However, those small tweaks affect their chemical properties, sweetness, and how humans metabolize them. Because we cannot absorb longer chains of sugars, including disaccharides, the body must first break them apart …
