High fructose corn syrup and added sugar in the US diet
What it found
In US national food surveys, high fructose corn syrup and added sugar intake rose from the mid-1960s until a slight dip between 2000 and 2004.
By 2004, high fructose corn syrup supplied about 8% of daily calories.
What they found
Studies in people
Rising intake over time
Availability and consumption of high fructose corn syrup and added sugar increased over time until a slight decline between 2000 and 2004. By 2004, high fructose corn syrup provided roughly 8% of total energy intake, while total added sugar accounted for 17%.
Drinks were main source
Soft drinks and fruit drinks provided the most high fructose corn syrup, at 158 and 40 kcal per person per day in 2004. Sweetened tea and desserts also contributed more than 100 kcal per person per day of added sugar.
Top consumers had much more
Among the top 20% of individuals, added sugar intake was 896 kcal per person per day compared with 505 kcal per person per day of high fructose corn syrup. Beverages provided 450 calories of high fructose corn syrup to this group and zero to the lowest 20%.
Foods contributed less
Foods provided considerably fewer calories from high fructose corn syrup than drinks. Desserts gave the most, at 29 kcal per person per day by 2004, while cereals and breads each accounted for roughly 2 kcal per person per day.
Other findings
Availability in the food supply
When introduced in the 1970s, high fructose corn syrup was less than 1% of all caloric sweeteners available in the US, but by 2004 it represented 42%. Total fructose availability rose nearly 18% since 1970, from 45.7 to 53.7 grams per person per day.
What the authors conclude
“Although increased intake of calories from HFCS is important to examine, the health effect of overall trends in added caloric sweeteners should not be overlooked.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that although increased intake of calories from high fructose corn syrup is important to examine, the health effect of overall trends in added caloric sweeteners should not be overlooked.
- They note that high fructose corn syrup and other added sugar is not what's for dinner, it's what's in addition to dinner.
How it was done
The authors wanted to look at long-term trends in how much added sugar and high fructose corn syrup Americans consume, from both drinks and foods, since earlier research had mostly focused on sweetened drinks.
They used national food survey data from 1965, 1977, 1989 to 1991, and 1999 to 2004, covering thousands of Americans aged 2 and older. They estimated high fructose corn syrup and added sugar intake using two methods and reported results from the Glinsmann method.
What it can’t tell you
- This study used food survey data and availability estimates, so it can show trends in how much people reported consuming, not what health effects those amounts caused.
- The amount of high fructose corn syrup in foods had to be estimated because direct measurements were not available, so the numbers carry some uncertainty.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NIEHS NIH HHS; NCI NIH HHS; NIAAA NIH HHS; NICHD NIH HHS; NIDDK NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- University of North Carolina, USA
The paper
- Title
- High-fructose corn syrup: is this what's for dinner?
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Duffey KJ, Popkin BM (2008). High-fructose corn syrup: is this what's for dinner?. The American journal of clinical nutrition. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.25825CFree full textPubMed 19064537DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error