February 19/Washington/Congressional Quarterly Weekly -- When corn refiners asked the FDA last September to allow food companies to change the name of their signature product from "high fructose corn syrup" to "corn sugar," they said it would clear up consumer confusion. High fructose corn syrup is a sweetener like any other, the Corn Refiners Association said, and not especially high in fructose, which is a particularly sweet form of sugar often blamed for increasing obesity in the United States.
Public health advocates, though, say the refiners are just trying to duck bad publicity from all the high fructose corn syrup used in many sodas, candies and other sweets. A University of Southern California study last year, for example, found that fructose levels in soda were higher than advertised. The bad publicity has prompted some brands such as Snapple and Gatorade to stop using the corn syrup.