NANP Board Practice Exam

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is best described as a combination of fructose and glucose. It is a sweetener made from corn starch that has been processed to convert some of its glucose into fructose. This results in a syrup that typically contains varying proportions of fructose and glucose, commonly around 55% fructose and 45% glucose in the most widely used form.

This composition allows HFCS to mimic the sweetness of sugar, making it a popular ingredient in many food and beverage products. Understanding the chemical structure of HFCS is important because it highlights its impact on nutrition and metabolism in comparison to pure sugars. Pure fructose or pure glucose would lack this balance and therefore does not reflect the true nature of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

While oligosaccharides, which are short chains of sugar molecules, do exist, they are structurally different from HFCS, which does not contain these longer chains but rather free monosaccharides. This knowledge is crucial for students to grasp the distinctions between different types of carbohydrates and their implications for health and nutrition.