Lactose Is Not High Fructose Corn Syrup

I found an odd comment through Google News but was frustrated when I clicked on the link. Apparently you can only view broadcasts from the Christian Broadcasting Network if you are a logged-in member, yet the comments on the programs are completely open to all. It took me some hunting before I accidentally changed onto the article itself.

But the comments are not on cbn.com, but on my.cbn.com. This comment page is on the program and article, "Are You Being Processed to Death?" I can't find a way to get from one to the other.

The article has some standard rants against high fructose corn syrup.

Former FDA toxicologist Dr. Dana Flavin says while sugar is burned and turned into energy, high fructose corn syrup turns into fat, causing what's known as "fatty liver." She says sugar can make you feel full, but high fructose corn syrup does not trigger the body's satisfaction gauge, so you always desire more. ...

Also on the list are other syrups and sweeteners like dextrose, glucose, lactose and maltose.

What is the body's satisfaction gauge? I can't tell you. A Google search indicates that only this article and the comments on it use the phrase.

But that is the problem. One of the comments contains this paragraph.

The different names for "high fructose corn syrup" are "dextrose, glucose, lactose, maltose." These turn into fat (causing "fatty liver") and do not trigger the body's satisfaction gauge.

Not a single word of that paragraph is correct. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is not the equivalent of dextrose or glucose or lactose or maltose. No such labeling is allowed in the U.S. Nor do any of these sugars turn into fat any more than any other excess calories taken in the body might eventually be stored as fat. Although some preliminary studies with rats showed that diets contained as much HFCS as they wanted to eat could cause fatty liver disease, these studies have not been carried out with humans. The studies that recently made the papers was one which took people who already had fatty liver disease and showed that those who ate foods with fructose might end up with liver scarring. An article at msn.com said that its not clear if the sweetener directly caused the scarring. And the study used fructose found in many foods, including healthy diet food like fruits. HFCS was only a small part of the overall study.

Basically, the article was overly broad, the comment scientifically illiterate. Yet the fear they produce will go much farther than the qualified findings of a proper medical study. Such is the way of the internet.