I believe sucrose and fructose are processed differently — specifically fructose is processed by the liver so can have the same issues as alcohol there.
Sucrose is 50% fructose. HFCS is typically 42-55% fructose. They are essentially indistinguishable to your liver.
There is also a chemical bond that needs to be broken in sucrose
Of course, and the human body is full of enzymes that exist to cleave saccharides into their constituent sugars.
> Sucrose is 50% fructose
What? They're different molecules
Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose.