NEW YORK (AP) -- The battle of the sweeteners keeps getting stickier.

The nation's biggest producers of high-fructose corn syrup are countersuing the Sugar Association, saying the group misleads consumers by suggesting its sweetener is to blame for obesity and other health issues.

The claim filed Tuesday is in response to a lawsuit filed last year, which accuses high-fructose corn syrup makers of what it says is false advertising.

The Corn Refiners Association had been running a marketing campaign stating that its syrup is actually a form of sugar and has the same nutritional value as the white, granular table sugar consumers are familiar with.

It has called the Sugar Association's lawsuit a "silencing campaign" against its efforts to educate consumers.

Experts say the sweetener has the same nutritional value as sugar.