It's also cheap in the US (in the form of HFCS) and smashes that dopamine receptor with a fucking wrecking ball.
Europeans would absolutely eat sugar in the same volumes if it were as cheap there as it is in America. As with most of the cultural differences between the regions, a lot of it comes down to economics: if gas were cheap in Europe, they'd also drive big SUVs; if land were as cheap in Europe, they'd have McMansions; etc.
Sugar (in the form of sugar) is cheaper in Europe than sugar or HFCS in the USA.
£0.65/kg in Tesco in the UK, 7.5kr/kg ($1.20) in Føtex in Denmark, but $1.80/kg at Walmart. Corn syrup at Walmart is more expensive, $2 a pint, but presumably cheaper in bulk packaging. (Last time I was in the USA, I saw an entire freight train of tank cars full of HFCS.)
(You'll also note that plenty of rich Europeans prefer large "normal" cars, like Audis, BMWs, Mercedes etc, and a nice apartment in the middle of a city.)
The southern US used to produce a lot of sugar. Before refrigeration it was heavily used as a preservative.
So there's a big market that expects things to have a lot of sugar in them.
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