What is high fructose corn syrup?

Chemically, the enzyme isomerase is use to covert some of the glucose in the corn syrup into another sugar, fructose.

High fructose corn syrup is a combination of glucose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup is an extra sweet, inexpensive sweetener used mostly in soft drinks and fruit juice. Since its debut in the 1970s, its used has grown in popularity within the food industry.

Production of high fructose corn syrup involves milling corn to produce corn starch and then hydrolyzing the starch to glucose using the enzymes alpha-amylase and glucoamylase.

The glucose so produced is then treated with the enzyme glucose isomerase to produce a mixture of glucose and fructose.

High fructose corn syrup contains 45% fructose and 55% glucose and has the same sweetness as sugar.

By further refining the proportion of fructose can be increased to 55% fructose, 45% glucose. The resulting product, called high fructose corn syrup 55 is slightly sweeter than sugar. High fructose corn syrup is found mostly in beverages.

Some consumers and health professional are concerned about the impact that the widespread use of high fructose corn syrup has on human health. Some believe there may be relationship between consumption of high fructose corn syrup and obesity.
What is high fructose corn syrup?