Cane sugar, corn sweetener same effect

SEATTLE, July 10 (UPI) -- Cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup have similar effects on hunger, fullness and food consumption at lunch, according to a U.S. study.

The study, published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, says the results may indicate that sucrose, or table sugar, in beverages splits into glucose and fructose molecules, such as are present in high-fructose corn syrup.

Study participants who drank a non-caloric diet cola ate about the same amount at lunch as when they had no beverage at all. Participants ate somewhat less at lunch after drinking any of the caloric beverages, but only partially compensated for the calories they consumed in the beverage.

People who drank any of the caloric beverages -- whether cane-sweetened cola, one of the high-fructose sweetened colas, or 1 percent milk -- consumed more total calories that day when both the beverage and lunch were taken into account.

Researchers found no differences in how the four caloric beverages affected appetite and food intake, according to the senior author Dr. Adam Drewnowski, of the University of Washington, in Seattle.