The onslaught of sugar in the American diet and its effect on our ability to sense sweetness — and other outcomes — is the subject of this speech I gave to my Toastmasters club last week. The assignment was to present a researched and sourced contention.

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I have acknowledged my possibly self-defeating urge to bring attention to bullshit that deserves no attention (see: every post I’ve ever done about the liarly named Center for Consumer Freedom (no link, intentionally)). But here I go again.

I’ve got a big raspberry for the Polar beverages vendor at my local market. He lost focus in what I’m sure is a mind-numbing part of his job, and the result for me was a headache, dry mouth, and not a little bit of consternation.

It is a weakness of mine that no matter what I’m in that market for, I stop by the soda aisle and pop open a liter of whatever, and yesterday it was Polar's diet raspberry lime. I’m a fairly careful shopper, especially when it comes to sugar or sugar-free, and I was definitely in the sugar-free area.

So I was a guest last week at the annual two-day summit of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, and my acceptance of a press pass implied that I would write about my experiences. I guess I better get started!

I’ve been following Dr. Yoni Freedhoff on Twitter for some time, and appreciate his espousal — from inside the medicine tent — of many of the same principles for health vis a vis obesity that I hold. Recently, I added an RSS feed of his blog to my reader, and I’ve been working through the backlog.

It’s unfortunate that my first impulse to share his ideas  is over what I regard as a clunker.

Midway through Day 2 of BEDA’s national conference, I continue to try to learn from those around me. This case in point: There is candy everywhere.

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.

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.

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?

The sale of Frosties, the Brit equivalent of Frosted Flakes, have dropped 18 percent in a year, which was attributed to a ban on advertising foods high in fat, sugar, and salt on children's television.

"Kellogg's has not spent a penny on traditional advertising for Frosties since 2010 when it spent £1.1 million, it was reported."

Story from The Telegraph