In researching some information of sugar I came across this helpful graphic of US sugar consumption:
US per capita consumption of sweeteners from 1965-2010
The vertical axis is pounds of sugar consumed per capita, or the average number of pounds consumed by people in the US. In 2010 the US consumed 66.0lbs of refined sugar and 64.5lbs of corn derived sugar per capita for a total of over 130lbs. Remember that’s an average so for every person like me that eats virtually no refined sugar there are people eating significantly more sugar per year.
However, if there is good news it is that overall sugar consumption is dropping off from it’s peak in 1999 at 151.3lbs and that this drop is almost entirely the result of people consuming less HFCS which peaked in 1999 at 83.5lbs.
I have not been able to find the raw data online but apparently according to statistics from the USDA and US Department of Commerce (Whole Health Source: By 2606, the US Diet will be 100 Percent Sugar) in 1822 (earliest numbers on record) sugar consumption was 6.3lbs per person and in 1912 (100 years ago) sugar consumption was around 60lbs per person.
USDA data on sugar: