Sugar Embraced As Lesser Evil

(MoneyWatch)  High-fructose corn syrup has become a bit of a pariah. It's still ubiquitous, used to sweeten a range of products from soft drinks to bread, but it doesn't get very good press. It's become widely associated with obesity and other health problems -- and that was before evidence came out that it often contained trace amounts of mercury.

Most major companies insist high-fructose corn syrup is perfectly fine, but even so, they are increasingly responding to consumer demand for "natural" products.

In the low-calorie sweetener market, NutraSweet and Splenda now face competition from stevia-based products like Truvia and PureVia, which add sweetness without calories or pesky associations with mad scientists and cancerous lab rats. But in the regular-calorie sweetener market, as HFCS falls out of favor, companies are going back to basics and embracing the original: sugar.

PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple both announced sugar-based drinks recently, and ConAgra's Health Choice All Natural frozen entrees are sweetened with sugar or honey, never HFCS. Even Pizza Hut has a new offering called "The Natural" which uses sugar-sweetened tomato sauce, and last year, the market for products labeled "HFCS-Free" reached almost $1 billion.

In fact, the Sugar Association is so confident in this trend that it's backing off on advertising for the time being, while the Corn Refiners Association is freaking out. The CFA has spent $30 million trying to persuade the public that high-fructose corn syrup is just as good for you as sugar.

And they may be right. Most scientists seem to think that sugar and HFCS are equally bad for you (on top of which, regular sugar is also heavily processed).

But there is a correlation between the rise in HFCS use and the rise in obesity -- because people consume more of it. HFCS was cheap so food companies started putting it in everything. The average American now consumes unprecedented amounts of HFCS, and that's contributed to our country's health problems. But a population that consumes too much sugar instead will not be any better off.

Fact, however, often has little effect on public perception, and if sugar is what people trust, companies that take advantage of that could see some seriously sweet benefits.

Related stories on BNET Food: Starbucks Latest to Shun High-Fructose Corn Syrup Oroweat Takes Sides Against High Fructose Corn Syrup