I was reading an article on MSNBC when the web ad below for 7UP caught me eye:

Wow! Is 7UP bucking the trend, switching to sugar in place of high-fructose corn syrup? 7UP has always been the also-ran, the Schick of the lemony carbonated beverage world. But this could actually work, I thought. With the popular press obsessing about the "obesity epidemic" and the theory du jour about its cause (including America's food being loaded with corn syrup), maybe 7UP has a real angle here. Whole Foods isn't carrying carbonated beverages sweetened with corn syrup (because of the GMO issue) and perhaps this "healthy" angle would make 7UP the crossover drink for the healthy crowd. Sure, the shelf space that Whole Foods delivers would be tiny in comparison to some of their other outlets, but when's the last time anyone actually ordered a 7UP?

But my cynicism wins out again. After hunting around for the new "100% Natural" ingredients, this is what I find: filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural citric acid, natural flavors, natural potassium citrate. I guess those smarties in Plano think if you use the word natural enough times it makes it so (3-Mile Island is now 100% Natural: natural uranium-235, natural plutonium, natural deuterium!). Yep, corn grows out of the ground, that's about where the natural part ends for corn-based sweeteners.

So, too bad. Just more of the same in a slightly different package.