Corn Syrup vs High Fructose Corn Syrup: How They're Made, HFCS 42 vs 55 & Swaps
Chapters
- The Short Answer
- From Corn to Syrup
- How H F C S Is Made
- H F C S Forty-Two vs Fifty-Five
- Corn Syrup Solids and Other Names
- What the Evidence Says
- Where It Hides
- Reading the Label
- Real Labels
- Swaps
- Your Turn
Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.
Corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup start the same way but aren't the same ingredient. We explain how each is made, HFCS 42 vs 55, corn syrup solids, the names used abroad (glucose-fructose syrup, isoglucose), what the evidence says about HFCS vs added sugar, and real label swaps (as of October 2026).
Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free
Chapters
0:00 The Short Answer
0:43 From Corn to Syrup
1:25 How H F C S Is Made
2:10 H F C S Forty-Two vs Fifty-Five
2:53 Corn Syrup Solids and Other Names
3:54 What the Evidence Says
5:27 Where It Hides
6:03 Reading the Label
6:44 Real Labels
7:22 Swaps
8:02 Your Turn
Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-16. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.
Music
"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
"Almost Bliss" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.
#cornsyrup #hfcs #foodlabels