A truck dumps corn grain at the Archer Daniels Midland Company plant in Decatur, Ill. A number of companies have stopped using corn syrup, a sweetener found in most soft drinks, cereals and other products, because of a suggested link between the substance and obesity.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Fans of natural foods have tried for years to push the ubiquitous sweetener high fructose corn syrup off Americans' dinner tables and out of their restaurants and grocery stores.

It seems to be working.

U.S. use of the sweetener found in most soft drinks, cereals and a range of other products dropped 11 percent between 2003 and 2008, the most recent year figures were available. A number of companies also have stopped using corn syrup in some or all products, including Hunt's ketchup, Snapple, Gatorade and Starbucks' baked goods.

"I think what we're seeing is a real awakening of public interest and public consciousness of the food we eat," said Curt Ellis, a producer of the 2004 movie "King Corn" about subsidies that helped corn become a dominant U.S. crop.

Ellis added, though, that he wished Americans would stop eating so many sweeteners, whether refined from corn or sugar.

High fructose corn syrup was first developed in the 1950s but didn't come into widespread use until the 1970s and 1980s. It's made from corn starch, which is processed into syrup that is high in glucose.

Quotas and tariffs on imported sugar in the late 1970s prompted food manufacturers to begin relying more on corn syrup. Coca Cola and Pepsi both switched from sugar to high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s.

Producers don't welcome the trend away from corn syrup, but seem positioned to handle it. Companies such as Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Corn Products International sell dozens of corn- and grain-derived products, and although U.S. sales are dropping, they're selling more in some other countries, especially Mexico.

Food industry observers also note the sweetener's biggest buyers — like Coke and Pepsi — remain huge customers. That's not likely to change unless sugar prices drop so low they can't resist.

"As long as they don't switch, there'll be a huge market for it," said Ron Sterk, associate editor of the trade publications Milling & Baking News and Food Business News.

The U.S. campaign against high fructose corn syrup seemed to begin with a 2004 study by a pair of researchers, one at Louisiana State University and one at the University of North Carolina, that suggested a link between the substance and obesity.

Sterk said the study came just as more people were feeling uncomfortable with processed foods.

"The timing was just right because there was a whole ... move toward natural things, and it was able to piggyback on that," he said.