I’ve seen a study saying that HFCS causes intestinal cancer – is this true?

A recent study published in Science by Goncalves et al. concludes that “HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) treated mice showed a substantial increase in tumour size and tumour grade in the absence of obesity and metabolic syndrome.”

The study suffered from a number of limitations which call into question the conclusions and validity of this study. For example, the study did not actually use HFCS for the experiment. It was also conducted on mice, which in the nutrition science community is widely regarded as a poor model to study human effects, and therefore insufficient for influencing nutrition and public health policy.

Finally, the conclusions of the study do not suggest that HFCS causes any different health effects as compared to other sugars.

We therefore consider the conclusions of the study questionable.

The European starch industry constantly monitors health-related scientific developments, and greatly values the input sound, evidence-based research can have on helping our industry continue to produce safe innovative products for our consumers.