HFCS...The same as sugar?

In the last few months I have seen an increase in the HFCS commercials. These commercials state that HFCS is basically the same as sugar, in small amounts. Well I wanted to know if this was the case. High fructose corn syrup is also an ingredient in a lot of carbonated beverages, which most Americans (including myself) drink quite frequently. While searching for information on HFCS I found an interesting article about HFCS in soft drinks. The article discusses a laboratory study and its findings.
This study was conducted by research group headed by Ho. The group researched 11 different soft drinks and found that these beverages had high levels of carbonyls. Carbonyls are a very reactive molecule and have been shown to have an association with "unbound" glucose and fructose molecules. It has been shown that diabetics have unbound glucose and fructose moleculs. Ho used blood of an adult diabetic and found that a single can of soda containing HFCS has five times the level of carbonyls found in the blood. Although carbonyls in HFCS cause negative effects. Ho found that adding epigallocatechin gallate, a component in tea decreased the levels of reactive carbonyls in HFCS. I found this article very interesting and that tea has positive effects on carbonyl levels to be a good reason to drink it. So next time you go for a soda, maybe brew some tea instead.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294882,00.html
Study:High Fructose Corn Syrup Used in Soda Linked to Diabetes. August 28, 2007.