Students who drink a lot of soda might want to reconsider their beverage of choice.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sweetener in many food products, is used in most non-diet soft drinks, said food science professor Don Thompson.

Regular sugar, or sucrose, is composed of 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, said Dorothy Blair, assistant professor of nutrition.

There are different derivatives of HFCS, but the most frequently used is 55 percent HFCS because it is about the same sweetness as sucrose, Thompson said.

"Compositionally, there is not much difference between the two sweeteners," he said, but there is slightly more fructose in HFCS than sucrose.

Blair said 55 percent HFCS consists of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose.

The body processes fructose differently than glucose, she said. There are two main problems with the consumption of fructose: More fat is released into the bloodstream, and then the fat is deposited into the body, she said.

"In some people, depending on how they process fructose, it tends to raise blood triglycerides," which are an indicator of heart disease, Blair said.

Jennifer Stranzl (senior-nutrition) said too much consumption of fructose can cause hepatic lipogenesis -- a condition in which fats and lipids are retained in the liver. This is very harmful, she said.

U.S. Department of Agriculture food supply data shows that between 1983 and 2000, the use of HFCS by Americans increased by more than 100 percent, said Blair, who recently worked on a paper on the effects of overeating that has yet to be published.

In the April 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, experts said they believed that HFCS was responsible for America's obesity epidemic, Thompson said.

"The question is: What is the fructose doing in the body? It is being converted to fat," Blair said.

This might explain an issue regarding the waistlines of Americans, she said.

"There is a correlation between the intake of HFCS and the increasing obesity epidemic in the American population," Blair said.

The correlation does not prove causality but the relationship is suspicious, she said. HFCS is one of the ingredients in our diets that increased from 1983 to 2000, while the use of sucrose decreased by 7 percent during that same period.

Thompson said he thinks the caloric sweetener consumption in general in America is something to be concerned about.

Blair said she advises those who want to eat healthy to drink water, eat whole grains, consume lots of fruits and vegetables, and practice moderation of everything else.

"Eating well is simple," she said, but she admitted that people often have to go out of their way to do so.