Originally Posted by derath
No of course not. And sure exercise is a factor as well.
But one of the big problems with HFCS is that it has opened the door. It is such a low cost sweetener, with an extended shelf life it gets used everywhere.
I bought a loaf of bread the other day. HFCS was the third ingredient, behind flour and water. It is almost impossible to find canned peaches that don't contain it.
These days it isn't even good enough to just make good food choices. You have to be extra vigilent about it.
So sure, just consuming fructose does not mean people are going to become obese. It is that it is becoming a staple ingredient in the vast majority of foods.
-D
Before HFCS, it was sucrose (sugar) that was used as the main sweetener in foods. HFCS is just cheaper than sugar, so it's used instead.
BTW, after flour and water, there remaining ingredients in a regular loaf of bread are generally used in pretty small amounts. So having some HFCS as the third ingredient doesn't necessarily mean there's a lot of it.