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My guess: the price of sugar spiked and the price of oil fell? The popularity and promotion of the 'Mediterranean diet' around that time allowed manufacturers

My guess: the price of sugar spiked and the price of oil fell? The popularity and promotion of the 'Mediterranean diet' around that time allowed manufacturers of processed foods to make the switch from sugars to fats? Looks like the numbers match: http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar&months=240 http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar&month... http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=rapeseed-oil&months=240 http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=rapeseed-oi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

crdb 11y ago
Interesting theory but the "caloric sweeteners", whilst dropping from that period, do not do so anywhere near as much or violently as fats rose, and continue dropping after fats stabilize (2002 onwards). In fact, corn-based sweeteners took over from the mid-1980s (mostly thanks to HFCS) [1]. Why would sugar and vegetable oil be substitutes in manufactured foods, other than for HFCS type sweeteners? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup#/media/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,_1966_to_2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup#/medi...
maxerickson 11y ago
A pound of sugar has ~1,800 calories in it. So at the peak price of ~$0.30, the calories per dollar is about 6,000. The peak price of canola oil there is $1.70 per kilogram, at 9,000 calories per kilogram, the calories per dollar is about 5,300. Both provide so many calories per dollar that I would not expect strong substitution between them.
abandonliberty 11y ago
Except the majority of sweetening is done with HFCS, not sugar.
- learnstats2 11y ago
  Except the stat that shows a drop in sugar consumption includes corn-based sugars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,_1966_to_2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,...

crdb 11y ago

Interesting theory but the "caloric sweeteners", whilst dropping from that period, do not do so anywhere near as much or violently as fats rose, and continue dropping after fats stabilize (2002 onwards). In fact, corn-based sweeteners took over from the mid-1980s (mostly thanks to HFCS) [1]. Why would sugar and vegetable oil be substitutes in manufactured foods, other than for HFCS type sweeteners? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup#/media/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,_1966_to_2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup#/medi...

maxerickson 11y ago

A pound of sugar has ~1,800 calories in it. So at the peak price of ~$0.30, the calories per dollar is about 6,000. The peak price of canola oil there is $1.70 per kilogram, at 9,000 calories per kilogram, the calories per dollar is about 5,300. Both provide so many calories per dollar that I would not expect strong substitution between them.

abandonliberty 11y ago

Except the majority of sweetening is done with HFCS, not sugar.

learnstats2 11y ago
Except the stat that shows a drop in sugar consumption includes corn-based sugars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,_1966_to_2013.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Sweetener_consumption,...