The CRA points out that a previous study critical of HFCS from the lead author, Dr Michael Goran, has met with severe criticism for both its study design and conclusions.
Dr Goran’s newest attack on HFCS fails to account for widespread agreement among scientists and medical doctors that HFCS and sucrose (table sugar) are nutritionally equivalent, according to the association.
Audrae Erickson, president, Corn Refiners Association states: This latest article by Dr Goran is severely flawed, misleading and risks setting off unfounded alarm about a safe and proven food and beverage ingredient. There is broad scientific consensus that table sugar and high fructose corn syrup are nutritionally and metabolically equivalent.
It is, therefore, highly dubious of Dr. Goran-without any human studies demonstrating a meaningful nutritional difference between high fructose corn syrup and sugar–to point an accusatory finger at one and not the other. Dr. Goran commits the most fundamental of research errors: Just because an ingredient is available in a nation’s diet does not mean it is uniquely the cause of a disease.
This is not the first time HFCS detractors have tried to use statistical analysis to ‘suggest’ a unique causal link between HFCS and obesity. The co-authors of the infamous 2004 Bray and Popkin paper, which Dr. Goran relies on, now admit they reached an erroneous hypothesis. As one author of the 2004 paper confirmed, ‘All sugar you eat is the same, that’s what we know now that we didn’t know in 2004.
Erickson added: Rigorous, credible scientific inquiry into the health effects of sweeteners is essential to advancing our understanding of a healthy diet. But Dr. Goran’s latest quest to condemn high fructose corn syrup crosses the line from science to advocacy.
The bottom line is this is a poorly conducted analysis, based on a well-known statistical fallacy, by a known detractor of HFCS whose previous attack on the ingredient was deeply flawed and roundly criticised. The common sense message for consumers to understand is to watch their intake of all extra calories, including all added sugars.
Source: CRA
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