The decline follows several years of bad press for high-fructose corn syrup. Some have attacked it as bad-tasting, while many have argued that eating it is bad for your health. One recent study suggested that the brains of people who ate lots of fructose don't register as satiated, while another demonstrated a correlation between high-fructose corn syrup consumption and higher rates of type 2 diabetes.
The corn industry has responded to this PR onslaught by claiming that high-fructose corn syrup had been "unfairly maligned," and that it is no worse for human health than any other kind of sweetener. Some studies have supported this argument.
If the corn industry is right, the recent estimates on sweetener consumption contain some troubling news as well. Sugar consumption rose 8.8 percent between 2007 and 2011, indicating that some consumers just shifted from one type of sweetener to another.
Comment: Here's What A Lifetime's Worth of Corn Syrup Consumption Looks Like
Americans are guzzling, on average, 90 pounds of sugar a year, and about a hot tub's worth (313 gallons) of corn syrup over a lifetime. What is all that glucose and fructose doing to our bodies? Are sugars the cause of the Western diseases of affluence - diabesity, heart disease, and some cancers?
In this weekend's New York Times Magazine, Gary Taubes, the author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, has an excellent examination of the scientific research on sugars. In addition to clearing up some misconceptions (high fructose corn syrup and sugar are "effectively identical in their biological effects"), he covers the ongoing search into why sugars are not toxic after one meal, but may have something to do with malignant cancers after 1,000 meals. He writes:
It very well may be true that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, because of the unique way in which we metabolize fructose and at the levels we now consume it, cause fat to accumulate in our livers followed by insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, and so trigger the process that leads to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. They could indeed be toxic, but they take years to do their damage. It doesn't happen overnight. Until long-term studies are done, we won't know for sure.
Comment: The following articles are just a few examples of years of 'bad press' for High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS):
The High Fructose Corn Syrup Monopoly is Finally Cracking
Based on Consumer Demand More Companies Eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup
Satan manifests itself in food with high fructose corn syrup
High-Fructose Corn Syrup is Evil: 7 Key Findings
High fructose corn syrup is not 'natural', says FDA
How High Fructose Corn Syrup Damages Your Body
High Fructose Corn Syrup - The Poison that Promotes Obesity and Liver Damage