Posts Tagged ‘sugar’

Will Smarter Sweeteners Improve the Food Supply?

January 28, 2020 — Editorial Note: After this post was published, we learned from sharp-eyed scientists that the analysis in the study referenced below suffers from a Difference in Nominal Significance error. For more on this issue with this study, we refer you to this explanation of the problem, which includes links to other publications about this issue. To […]

Raising Blood Pressure with Sugar

December 22, 2019 — We’ve seen people get quite red in the face when they expound on the how toxic sugar is. Or on the necessity of taxing sugar sweetened beverages. So perhaps arguments about the subject of sugar are raising blood pressure. But no, contrary to a press release from the University of Toronto, sugar itself does not […]

Toddler Diets: Sugar Down, Obesity Up, Now What?

November 15, 2019 — Toddler diets can’t seem to fall in line with dietary guidelines. About 98 percent of toddlers are eating added sugar! That’s the headline in the New York Times today on a study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In that same article, the Times buried the fact that added sugar consumption […]

The Buddy Clubs of Obesity, Nutrition, and Fitness

November 10, 2019 — Can we talk? Well, if you’re not in our buddy club, maybe not. More and more it seems like we have difficulty in listening to people who don’t think like us. If you haven’t noticed this in politics, you’re not paying attention. But we also see it happening in the study of obesity, nutrition, and […]

ObesityWeek: Closing the Obesity Information Gap

November 6, 2019 — Bad habits and bad choices. That’s where the public thinking lies on the subject of obesity. So at ObesityWeek yesterday, a string of researchers told us about their efforts to close the information gap on obesity. They’re looking for ways to warn people about sugary drinks. They’re trying to figure out if posting calorie counts […]

Seeing What We Want to See in Soda Policy

November 1, 2019 — Objectivity is having a rough time these days. This is true whether the subject is politics, policy, or even a study in a medical journal. Very often, believing is seeing. Not the other way around. A new study on soda policy in JAMA Internal Medicine provides a case in point. Improving Metabolic Profile Very Effortlessly […]

Big Baby Food: Hooked on Sugar, Salt, and Fat

October 19, 2019 — Big Baby Food is preying on young parents and their children. That’s the gist of a story in the Washington Post this week. But we wonder how helpful this scary story is for parents who merely want to nourish their infants and toddlers. Simple guidance would be great. Marketing hype and righteous fear mongering, less […]

Sugar: Solve for the Answer You Like

September 29, 2019 — The assumption that too much sugar explains our problem with obesity has become ambient white noise. Most people just accept it. Inconvenient facts fade into oblivion. Modelers grab the megaphone claiming to have evidence that sugar is the cause and the key for overcoming obesity. It’s easy enough to solve for the answer you like […]

Mixed Results on Sugar in the UK

September 22, 2019 — Unsuccessful success is one way to describe the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) in the UK. Many people, like Susan Jebb and Theresa Marteau, call this tax on sugary beverages a success. “The benefit of fiscal intervention is clear,” they say. People are buying less sugar in drinks. In fact, they’re buying about 22 percent […]

Does Less Sugar Mean More Alcohol in Drinks?

September 9, 2019 — Reducing the intake of sugary drinks is presently quite important to many public health advocates. Taxes on sweet drinks are one effective way to do this. And advocates are convinced that the result will be better health –  less obesity and less diabetes. But it’s worth asking: what will take the place of those sugary […]