Many claim high fructose corn syrup(HFCS) and table sugar(sucrose) are exactly the same. HFCS intake has increased drastically in the past 40 years at the expense of other sweeteners.
High-fructose corn syrup is produced by milling corn to produce corn starch, then processing that starch to yield corn syrup, which is almost entirely glucose, and then adding enzymes that change some of the glucose into fructose.
Whajudi analyzed samples of HFCS in 10 commercial beverages before and after hydrolyzing it in acid to break down the other carbohydrates present in it; they found that the carbohydrate content was 4-5 times higher than the listed values.(1)
Many of the extra calories are in the form of maltodextrin, an oligosaccharide, which is digested into glucose. It is easy to think sugar causes obesity when your soda contains 4-5x the listed calories.
1. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/24/1_MeetingAbstracts/562.1
