The question of whether high fructose corn syrup is a particularly noxious substance is being fought on many fronts, including currently in a Los Angeles courtroom. Corn refiners are fighting mightily not to be demonized, and regularly send out missives stating their case to anyone who will listen.

The question of whether high fructose corn syrup is a particularly noxious substance is being fought on many fronts, including currently in a Los Angeles courtroom. Corn refiners are fighting mightily not to be demonized, and regularly send out missives stating their case to anyone who will listen.

Their newsletter landed on my e-doorstep this morning, and it was amusing enough for me to relate it to you.

I’ve been wanting to get to this topic for a while, but it has languished in the in-box, as too many other things do:

The headline is, “The Food Industry Fights Back,” and it’s written by Dave Fusaro, editor in chief of foodprocessing.com (“Home Page for the Food & Beverage Industry”). The subhed is just as good: “On obesity, food safety, 'questionable' ingredients, the industry can do a better job of tactfully defending itself; the key is transparency.”

Dateline Doha: Drs. Robert Lustig and Robert Lefever are interviewed in this Aljazeera report on the toxicity, the addictiveness, and the dangers of refined sugar.

I’ve said many times that the causes of disordered eating are extremely complicated, a condition that muddles any conversation about overcoming the personal and societal ills that result. Obesity is a very noticeable outcome, and there are others, of course.

One such muddler is the phenomenon of craving, which is well known to addicts of every stripe. It’s the biochemically driven desire to ingest more of the addictive substance or engage again in the addictive experience, because the body has become habituated to the addictive action.

Just connected, if only in Twitter-ese, with Cameron Hay, 34, of Melbourne, Australia, a former personal trainer now working back from 315 pounds and blogging about it at fitnessandthefatguy.com.

After brief perusing, I thought enough of what I saw to bring him to your attention.

One of the patently dishonest threads of the healthy food/processed food debate has been Big Food’s complaint that they can put healthy options on their menus, but they can’t make people buy them.

It’s a variant of its explanation of why kids’ menus only have hot dogs, fries, and other crap. “It’s all they’ll eat,” they complain. One defect of this strain is that it’s just not true — and besides, “I’m the daddy.”.

Tweets the deserve a longer moment in the sun:

Surrendering just may save your life  [RT from @wtpicketfence]

Worst marketing practice of the week: Crayons functional kids’ drinks  [RT from @YaleRuddCenter]

Oh dear...!!! 8% of Brits think strawberry ice cream counts towards your "five a day" - Mirror Online  [RT from @NutritionRocks1]

ChildObesity180.org, an initiative of Tufts University, is offering $500,000 in prizes to reward and disseminate innovative school programs that help get children active.

The competition, which is has dubbed the Active School Acceleration Project, is open to teachers and institutions who have come up with fresh ways to get kids moving. More information is at a website created for the purpose.

Deadline for entries is April 2.

In April 2009, I attended an invitation-only conference on obesity in Bainbridge Island, Wash., and it was one of the best strokes of good fortune I’ve yet encountered, not only for the knowledge that was shared but for the relationships I got to form.