HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is the same as table sugar: about 50% glucose and 50% fructose.
The problem isn’t the chemical makeup of HFCS, the problem is it is cheap—ultra cheap. Consequently:
1) Manufacturers can afford to put sweetener into products that never had sugar; even vitamins and medicines now contain sweeteners.
2) Manufacturers can now afford to put more (way more) sweetener into existing products; for example, anyone old enough to remember pre-HFCS Coke knows that modern Coke is waaaay sweeter; that’s because it contains more sugar.
About 20% of the typical American’s daily calories come from one item: HFCS—sugar! Do you think that in 1900 20% of the typical American’s calories came from sugar? No, not even close.
Americans have a high demand for sweet products. The food industry is meeting that demand by producing sweeter foods and cheaper sweeteners. The problem is on the demand side.
Well, that might not be true. The body may not metabolize them the same way:
http://consumerist.com/2012/01/study-says-sugar-hfcs-not-as-identical-as-some-would-have-you-believe.html
Of course, you can look through studies that say different things, so who knows for sure. I do know I won’t use it myself, but then again, I rarely use cane sugar either.
We should all probably use a lot less sweetener period. I know I can hardly stand how sweet store bought goodies are and rarely eat them. When I do I’m always sorry.
It may be volume of sugar, I read that the average consumption is over 41 lbs of HFCS per person per year. I only know I feel a lot better when I avoid it and drink soda made with cane sugar and that is occasional.
I really don’t like sweet things all that much. I did prefer the old Coke with less sweetener.
I also know that HFCS is protected by tariffs against cane sugar.