USAToday.com recently published an article about a 2004 research paper which suggested "the rise in obesity might be linked to the rise in consumption of high-fructose corn syrup. The paper led to a wave of research and a chorus of popular concern over the cheap, ubiquitous liquid sweetener."
According to the online article, "the hypothesis was controversial and launched a backlash against the corn-based sweetener, which, because of agricultural subsidies for corn in the USA, was much cheaper than cane or beet sugar. It became nutritional dogma in some circles that sugar was healthy, and high-fructose corn syrup was not."
Now, it appears, opinion has shifted. To learn more, read New data: High-fructose corn syrup no worse than sugar on USAToday.com