Pitching, helping to populate, and then participating in a Commonwealth Club of California forum on food addiction four years ago was a signal experience.

The return of the entire panel last week for "Food Addiction 2.0," an update, was better than anything I remembered from before.

My fellow panelists are personable, incredibly accomplished, and, to me, unnaturally well versed, citing not only studies by their provenance. The moderator, Patty James, was very well prepared. And the audience asked knowledgable questions. I was happy with my contributions as well.

Several years ago, I instigated and participated in a very successful presentation on food addiction at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco.

This is not new, but I bet you haven't seen it.

The person who shared this video with me suggested it was the companion to "Fed Up," the Katie Couric/Laurie David documentary. It is full of good information on the effects of processed-sugar consumption on our bodies and on public health. It even features a slimy industry apologist.

I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but I kept notes, or tried to, during the Boston premiere of "Fed Up," the Laurie David/Katie Couric documentary on the obesity epidemic, and it has killer quote after killer quote. Here's one by Rob Lustig (left), endocrinologist, University of California, San Francisco:

Maybe this post has a valid point, or maybe it’s just dressed up to avoid outright braggartry. You decide.

I attended the Boston premiere of the new food documentary “Fed Up” Wednesday, and I was struck by how many of the experts quoted in the film that I’ve had personal contact with:

* Rob Lustig, perhaps the most quoted voice? Sat next to him at the Commonwealth Club of California a couple of years ago, on a panel I originated.

I was listening to Ira Flatow interview Rob Lustig on a Science Friday podcast when I heard Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at UC Berkeley, make a really good point.

Big Food spinmeisters subvert the libertarian viewpoint to “keep Big Brother from telling me what to eat” as a way to avoid any fetter on its ability to sell its products, when Big Food is already telling us what to eat!

I wrote previously about a pair of podcasts that Kelly Brownell and Robert Lustig did back in April, but I wanted to take up another point Lustig raised.

Now that I'm back in the gym (three and counting), I'm catching up on podcasts that I don't have/take time for usually.

It's almost impossible to be in my line of work — commenting on how we eat, with the goal of increasing respect for, and interest in, healthy nutrition — and not admire what Dr. Robert Lustig is accomplishing. His appearance on "60 Minutes" a couple of weeks ago was the the latest wild success he has achieved in bringing attention to primary causes of in the world's obesity pandemic.