There's a gross moment or two in this, but its direct comparison of drug pushers and Big Food is right on target to me. Its paid flacks will not only disagree but feign outrage, but that's what they do. The fact is, a substantial portion of what Big Food concocts and purveys is as health-threatening as illegal drugs. Read more »

This is the last in a trio of entries (Part 1, Part 2) about a guest blogger Sara Ross's post at the maize-pimping website Corn Commentary that talks about "misconceptions" around high fructose corn syrup. It wasn't so spellbinding as to demand a three-part retort; I split them merely to reduce word count for a media-saturated readership. Read more »

I started a trio of posts yesterday about a guest post at the maize-pimping website Corn Commentary that talks about "misconceptions" around high fructose corn syrup. Read more »

Under the headline, “Sweet News About Your Valentine’s Day Sweets,” a guest blogger at Corn Commentary discusses “misconceptions” about high fructose corn syrup while overlooking basic truth that ought to come first.

Before I get to them, though, let’s just pause for the headline. What exactly is the sweet news? Read more »

[I originally published this post a year (and three days) ago, but I'm bumping it to the top because it fits the thread of discussion kindled by Michele Simon's Eat Drink Politics report of last week.]

Based on my early experience with them, and on what I've heard from others of their experiences, I have long held opprobrium for registered dietitians. But it has recently bubbled over again. Read more »

This is the Coke commercial you may have heard about, in which it "tackles" the obesity problem it helps to perpetuate with gauzy images and assertions that range from questionable to bullshit.

Well, actually, it's the commercial's video, but paired with a more honest audio track in which some of Coke's egregious statements and oversights are pointed out. Read more »

I've been taking a break from blogging, not to get away from it but to concentrate on a 9,000-word speech and accompanying slide show I'm giving in February. I don't know if you've noticed but Klout sure has, dropping me from 61 to 57, so far. I wish I knew what that meant. Read more »

A few items have been hanging around the desktop, waiting for me to do something with them, so I'm just tossing them all into this news salad (ugh, another stupid food allusion, like that weak-ass headline). Read more »

Like most folks, I'm a sucker for "best" lists, and this is the season for them. From Civil Eats comes a list of the year's best food and agriculture books, and I wanted to share it. It combines mainstream titles such as Barry Estabrook's Tomatoland and The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz with an excellent range of other titles I was glad to learn about. Read more »

There is plenty that Big Food could do to lessen its crushing effect on national health, and for a moment there, it seemed as though it wanted to hear some ideas. But then it realized what it had done and said "screw you" to the nice doctor it had invited. So Dr. Yoni Freedhoff made his slides into a presentation for you and me ... Read more »