Scoot over eggs, butter, pork, sugar, milk, avocados, farm-raised salmon, canned tuna, non-organic produce, red M&Ms, coffee, wine, fats, carbs, etc., etc.

High-fructose corn syrup—America's favorite sweetener and latest dietary uber-villain—has just joined the long list of controversial foodstuffs that bear the blame of our nation's ills.

For the past few years, a popular theory has been our country's obesity epidemic has grown in tandem with our increased intake of corn syrup. In fact, it's been vilified to the point that, in an effort to ban the stuff from Florida schools, some legislators dubbed it “the crack of sweeteners.”

But the New York Times recently challenged the current belief that high fructose corn syrup is single-handedly responsible for obesity in America.

Maybe it's not actually as addictive as crack. Maybe it's not all that unhealthy. Maybe, depending on how gullible flexible you are, it really is "all-natural." Maybe, the real reason for America's obesity is that we eat too many Twinkies.

Whether it's the crack of sugar world or not, corn syrup's bad rap is being re-evaluated. Which probably means that its 15 minutes of demonization is nearing an end. It wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing articles in the coming months about how a little bit of syrup is beneficial for something or other.

Meanwhile, any predictions on which "dangerous" ingredient—one we've all been naive enough to eat for years—will emerge as the nation's Next Big Food Threat?