CBS News and the New York Times contributed to the following report

In Friday morning's Get Fit, Get Healthy Tri-States tip, we answer a viewer question submitted by Mary.

She asked, "what are the facts about corn syrup?"

KHQA's Rajah Maples did some digging. This is what she found.

As far as whether corn syrup is safe, it depends on whom you ask.

This article about high-fructose corn syrup was published in the New York Times last week.

In it, a New York University nutrition professor, who's campaigned against unhealthy foods marketed to children, said the Corn Refiners Association has biochemistry on its side.

That's because leading researchers say that high-fructose corn syrup, when various chemicals convert corn starch into corn syrup, is not any worse than sugar.

According to the New York Times article, those scientists say, "both sweeteners are made up of roughly equal amounts of glucose and fructose."

A report by CBS News last month said the same thing. According to that report, chemically speaking, high fructose corn syrup is just sugar with an image problem. It starts as corn starch and enzymes are used to convert it into glucose and fructose. Various chemicals extract table sugar from sugar beets and sugar cane. It's also made up of glucose and fructose in virtually the same proportions.

Now here's the other side -- a 2004 paper suggested a link between soft drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup to the obesity epidemic.

Michael Jacobson with the Center for Science in the Public Interest said, "They didn't have one shred of evidence to back up their theory. They eventually recanted and they realized that HFCS and sugar are virtually the same thing. But they couldn't put the genie back into the bottle."

Earlier this year, an alarming study came out about the dangers of corn syrup to the liver. Doctors at Duke University Medical Center studied the histories of over 400 patients who had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Researchers analyzed dietary questionnaires taken within three months of patients' liver biopsies, to determine their high fructose corn syrup intake and its association with liver scarring.

Manal Abdelmalek from Duke University Medical Center said, "To our surprise we found that the addition of high fructose corn syrup into their diets increased the severity of their liver disease...particularly the degree of liver scarring or fibrosis."

Experts say we should be most concerned about something that the two sugars share

Marion Nestle with the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University said, "It's fructose that we're worried about. There's too much of it in our diet so we ought to be eating less of sugars generally."

But there is a question whether our bodies metabolize high fructose corn syrup differently than table sugar. Scientists at UC davis are conducting a long-term study to answer that. Results are expected by the end of this summer. Until then, call it high fructose corn syrup or call it sugar - but don't call the overuse and abuse of either a healthy choice.

Now, Mary also asked about Agave Nectar and Stevia. Rajah asked the experts and will show you what she found out about that Monday right here on Tri-States this Morning.

Have a question about getting healthy, Tri-States? Email Rajah at rmaples@khqa.com