High-Fructose Corn Syrup Usage May Be Leveling Off
Hodan Farah
Wells and Jean
C. Buzby
Over the past 35 years, the total amount
of added sugars and caloric sweeteners available
in the U.S. food supply grew 19 percent, from 119
pounds per person in 1970 to 142 pounds per person
in 2005, according to ERS’s per capita food
availability data. The data are calculated by dividing
the total annual supply of a commodity by the U.S.
population for that year. Although these estimates
do not directly measure actual quantities ingested,
they provide an indication of whether Americans,
on average, are consuming more or less of various
foods over time.
During most of 1970 to 2005, the
big story was that corn sweeteners—mostly
high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—were replacing
refined cane and beet sugars. HFCS is corn syrup
that has been processed to increase the fructose
content and then blended with pure corn syrup. Since
its introduction in 1967, HFCS availability rose
sharply to a peak of 63.7 pounds per person in 1999.
Over the same time period, per capita availability
of refined cane and beet sugars (sucrose) declined
33 percent.
HFCS’s lower cost is one
of the main reasons for its substitution for sucrose.
Industry analysts report that, on a sweetness equivalent/dry
basis, HFCS-42 (one of the blends of HFCS) cost
an average of 13.6 cents per pound in 2005, while
the price of wholesale refined beet sugar averaged
29.5 cents per pound. Also, because HFCS is a liquid,
it is easier to blend into many foods than sugar.
HFCS is commonly used to sweeten soft drinks, sport
drinks, and numerous processed foods, such as ketchup,
crackers, bread, soups, cereals, and spaghetti sauce.
Since peaking in 1999, however,
HFCS availability has dropped to 59 pounds per person
in 2005, as no-calorie bottled water and diet soft
drinks have grown in popularity at the expense of
regular carbonated soft drinks. Bottled water availability
stood at 25.4 gallons per person in 2005, up 52
percent from 16.7 gallons in 2000. Diet soft drink
availability grew during the same period by 16 percent,
while availability of regular soft drinks declined
nearly 10 percent. Food manufacturers’ expanding
use of a combination of sugar alcohols, artificial
sweeteners, and bulking agents in more foods is
also contributing to decreased usage of HFCS. If
the price differential between sugar and HFCS shrinks
because of continued demand for corn-based ethanol,
for example, manufacturers may adjust their use
of HFCS and sugar.
|