Perhaps it's a sign of immaturity, but I'm still enjoying the internecine squabbles among sugar producers. According to foodnavigator-usa.com, five more sugar companies have joined the opposition to the corn refiners' association effort to rename high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar."

A couple times recently, I've come across the notion that obesity is a sign of malnutrition. The first time, it was in an interview, and I decided just to edit that out, 'cause I wanted to save the speaker from himself. I mean, that couldn't be right, right?

Then I saw it again here, and while I'm not buying it yet, I understand the reasoning and see how it might be true. For some. Perhaps.

Bettina Eilas Siegel, proprietor of The Lunch Tray blog, also addresses — quite well— Kathleen Parker's Washington Post op-ed about how family leadership is the route of salvation from the epidemic of obesity.

One commonality I note is that we both agree that family involvement is necessary but neither of us thinks it is sufficient. Our prescription is multifaceted.

As I am called to say frequently these days, I agree that for child obesity, any strategy that doesn't begin with family involvement is unlikely to be sufficient. Here's the problem with Kathleen Parker's misty-eyed paean to the family and how it holds the key to America's obesity problem: We're relying on it already — have been all along — and we're getting fatter.

Ordinarily, that's evidence that we need to try something more.

In the latest round of “10 Words or Less,” the participant is one of the panelists May 26 for “Food and Sustainability,” a continuation of the two-year “Let’s Talk About Food” series being conducted by Boston’s Museum of Science. Carroll is the author of several books, including “Pastures of Plenty” and “The Real Dirt.” Remember: Please, no counting; the 10-word thing is a goal, not a rule, and besides, let’s see you do it.
Name: John E. Carroll
Age: 65
Residence: Durham, N.H.
Occupation: Professor of environmental conservation, University of New Hampshire
Passion: “Watching the growth of the new local food and farming movement.”

I saved a portion of the survey I wrote about previously because it touches on a subject I've been slow in approaching: Is government intervention the best way to reduce the alarming level of obesity in America?

This story from foodnavigator-usa.com has plenty to comment on, and we'll see what I get to, but I want to start with the fifth paragraph:

Nevertheless, only 44 percent said they incorporate at least one healthy food into their diet.

Where to begin? Is one going to get healthy, or even healthier, by incorporating "a" healthy food into one's diet? Isn't the goal to eat healthily, not to incorporate a healthy food?

If you're "incorporating a healthy food," doesn't that presuppose that what you're eating now is unhealthy? That can't be a good starting point for anyone.

More than half of the survey respondents aren't even incorporating one healthy food! 'Course, considering that only 39 percent say they're "very concerned" about eating healthily, maybe that's not such a bad number.

In this dispatch from foodnavigator-usa.com, the soda industry is reported to complain that New York City's effort to bar food stamps' use for sugary beverages is discriminatory.

To which I say, "Of course it is! But what's your point?"

A comparison between increases in the rates of obesity and of soda consumption:

No, it doesn't mean one caused the other. But you can decide if it's mere coincidence.

"Food addiction — nah"

That's the dismissive headline atop another of the serially disappointing blogs of psychcentral.com, this time written by Pittsburgh therapist Pavel G. Somov, which says in part:

"If you have labeled yourself as a food addict, I suggest you retire this psychologically toxic concept from your mind. You are a seeker of wellbeing who is still mastering the learning curve of moderation."

OMG, sir, if you only knew. Which clearly you don't. (Though I'll acknowledge for the record that we're just two guys spoutin' on the Net, and that he's a Ph.D. and I'm not.)