How does one value health? If it's in dollar amount, high fructose corn syrup may be, at the same time, one of the most expensive and the most affordable food product on the market today. There are mounting evidence to suggest that the ever increasing societal intake of HFCS on a regular basis may contribute to obesity, heart disease, and related illnesses, thereby increasing health care need and cost. HFCS has the ability to do all this, and continue to do so because of its affordability, in price and function. If you are in the end-user food and beverage industry, it is a miracle product. In fact, if as an industry leader, you do not switch to HFCS in your products, you are at such a considerable disadvantage; it's almost criminal if you value your responsibilities to share-holders.
I'm not going to go into the biochemistry of HFCS. For that, you can reference the many confusing and often elaborate publications by the Corn Refiners Association and their 'associates' vs. independent publications or even other blogs posts. I'm not here to argue the merits of those publications either. The only important biochemical property I will point out is that HFCS does not elicit the same CNS satiety activity as sugar. Simply put, you can eat more HFCS and you won't feel it as well as sugar. To elaborate, if you empty the contents of a sugar packet on your tongue, and try again with another packet, your brain will probably not like it too much. There are natural mechanisms in the human body that will limit excess, especially when it comes to metabolic needs. HFCS bypasses that mechanism. I remember when I was younger; I would often not be able to finish an entire bottle of soda. It just feels too sweet. Fast forward to now, we see people emptying 40oz drinks at fast food chains and going back for seconds.
