High fructose corn syrup is in pretty much everything we eat, drink, or shop for. Americans consume, on average, 35 pounds of the processed corn sweetener every year (ten years ago, we were eating 45 pounds of the stuff). However, that doesn’t mean we like it. Increasingly, people are avoiding products with corn syrup in them in favor of natural sugar or artificial sweeteners, as increased corn syrup consumption is linked with higher obesity rates. Now, the push is on, not from consumers, but from the Corn Refiners Association to rebrand corn syrup as corn sugar. The commercials are already on the air.
It’s part of a big campaign to change public perception of corn syrup, in much the same way low eurcic acid rapeseed oil became canola oil and prunes became dried plums. According to the CRA’s petition, “The name ‘corn sugar’ more accurately reflects the source of the food (corn), identifies the basic nature of the food (a sugar), and discloses the food’s function (a sweetener).” Like the commercials say, “Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.”
I have to say, from a marketing standpoint, this is one of the rare name changes that makes sense. Corn syrup is basically the same thing as beet sugar, just in liquid form. The problem isn’t so much the change in sugar types but the change in American eating and exercise habits that lends itself to obesity. I’m not a huge corn syrup fan, but that’s not our only problem.
Tags: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn sugar, corn syrup becomes corn sugar, Corn Refiners Association, marketing, rebranding, public perception, corn sugar commercials