SUGAR SHOCK! Blog

Fructose More Fattening, Study Finds

Yet another study -- the latest of several -- suggests that corn-based fructose could be associated with increased fat. What's more, the findings indicate that drinking too many soft drinks could be one reason why Americans are gaining weight.

In this latest research experiment -- from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and published in the July 2005 issue of Obesity Research -- mice were allowed to freely consume water, fructose-sweetened water or soft drinks. The mice who went for the fructose water and soft drinks gained weight — despite that fact that they ate less calories from solid food..

Matthias Tschöp, M.D., associate professor in UC's psychiatry department and a member of the Obesity Research Center at UC's Genome Research Institute, found that consuming fructose appears to affect metabolic rate in a way that favors fat storage.

Sugary Milk: The New Soft Drink?

Milk is becoming more sugary, flavored, and even carbonated. Oh, and maybe even "cool." Or, at the least, a "more healthful alternative" to soda.

You've got to be kidding!

As I shake my head in utter disbelief, I'm reading a fascinating Washington Post article, which reveals the hot new trend of dishing up milk in newfangled flavors in the hopes that kids will drink the stuff.

Oh, and get this: Some of these sweetened milk beverages go by such candy-like names as "ChocolateDrink," "Milky Way," and "3 Musketeers."

Even soda companies are jumping on the milk bandwagon.

• Earlier this month, Coco-Cola Enterprises Inc. (the bottling arm) acquired a majority stake in Bravo Foods International Corp., maker of vitamin-fortified, flavored milks. Bravo previously teamed with Mars Inc. to turn its chocolate bars into a beverage ("liquid candy," as dubbed by the Post and the Center for the Science in the Public Interest.
• Next month, Coke's rival PepsiCo, Inc. is rolling out a chocolate-, strawberry- and vanilla-flavored Quaker Milk Chillers. 

Speaking of being chilled, I'm shivering just thinking about this nutrition-robbing development (even though it's swelteringly hot here in New York).

These drinks are so far removed from milk that it's almost laughable.

Off Topic - Interesting Article on Home-Based Office

This is completely off topic, but I'm getting instruction on how to use trackbacks. So, check out this interesting article about home-based businesses. I love its title -- "Are You Running a Business, or Running Around?"

BBC Yanks "Irresponsible" Candy-Eating Song

Get ready for what I dub a bona fide SUGAR SHOCKER!

Earlier this week, a "horrified" Bitish Dental Health Foundation blasted the BBC for having the idiocy to post a song on its Cbeebies website that encourages kids to eat sweets "the whole day through."

Apparently, a day or two later, the bumbling BBC buckled under pressure and yanked the offending children's song . (It seems to have been pulled down in the middle of the night on U.S. time. You can't hear it anymore; when you click for the tune, you go nowhere.)

What the heck was a candy-glorifying song doing on the BBC site in the first place? Does idiocy reign at the British company? As an American, I've always revered the BBC. Not so now!

The song, called "Sweets," which was sung by the Tweenies, a group of animated children's characters, begins like this:

Sweets for my breakfast
Sweets for my lunch
Sweets for my supper too

The dental charity rightly complained that the song "gives the message that eating sweets is a positive thing and will persuade many children to eat more of them."

But, the group falls short in only citing dental decay.

As I learned while researching my book SUGAR SHOCK!, tooth problems are only a very small portion of the sour sugar story. Eating sweets all day long could yield to problems galore!

Junk Food Web Marketing to Kids Rises

It's illegal to sell directly to kids online, to deceive them and to take their personal information without parental permission, but that doesn't prevent companies from conducting more subtle online marketing to reach the younger set.

Indeed, targeting to children and teens tends to take an interactive approach by involving youngsters through games and contests.

And guess whose brands and characters these interactive tools are built around? You guessed it -- the company that built the website. So reports Mike Shields, in a fascinating Media Week article, "Web Marketing to Kids is Rising."

To get a feel for this online marketing, check out such stand-alone gaming sites such as Kraft's Candystand; Post's Postopia, and Frito-Lay's INNW.com.

A visit to Postopia, for example, offers kids a game called Night Spy Mission," described as, "Get to the kitchen for a midnight snack without waking anyone up!"

Is this a game or a subliminal message urging kids to nosh on their products while their parents are asleep?

Food Marketers Fight Obesity -- & Maybe Push Their Foods, Too

Some of America's most visible food corporations, including the Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Foods, Pepsi-Co, Campbell Soup, and Welch Foods -- who, of course, are under fire from health groups, consumer advocates and regulators -- announced plans for a massive ad effort to curb obesity.

The public service advertising campaign to halt obesity -- dubbed the "Coalition for Healthy Children" -- also  "presumably [could encourage] consumption of some of [these companies' products]," as aptly observed by MediaDailyNews reporter Michael Delbert.

The collaborative initiative -- which is being coordinated by the Advertising Council -- also is backed by the American Heart Association, the American Dietetic Association Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, and Time magazine.

Now this is interesting. Coke, Kraft, Pepsi, Campbell Soup, and Welch are getting into bed with the AHA, ADA, American Dietetic Association, and Time to keep our nation from getting fatter.

"The Terminator" Wants to (Partly) Terminate Junk Food From Schools

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is backing "absolutely critical" legislation that would promote healthier foods and drinks in California schools, including a bill that would ban soft drinks in high schools, the AP's Kathleen Hennessey reported.

The Healthy Schools Now Act by Sen. Martha Escutia would extend the statewide ban on soft drinks in the lower grades.

I'm mighty proud of my home state of California (where I grew up).

In 2003, it set an example for the rest of the country -- it became the first state to ban soft drink sales in middle and elementary schools despite objections from the soft drink industry. Los Angeles and other districts already forbid soda sales in high schools.

Here's where I'm stumped, though.

The fit Schwarzenegger -- who's known for his commitment to exercise and good nutrition -- urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would only permit high schools to sell soda 30 minutes before and after the school day, the AP reported.

Huh? Come again?

Aspartame Induces Tumors, Study Shows

New research from Italy shows that the artificial sweetener aspartame can be carcinogenic.

Indeed, scientists showed for the first time in experimental conditions that aspartame "causes a dose-related statistically significant increase in lymphomas [malignant tumors that arise in the lymph nodes] and leukaemias [chronic neoplastic diseases of the bone marrow] in female rats at dose levels very near those to which humans can be exposed."

The startling new study -- which was published in the Cancer Research Centre for the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences in Bologna, Italy -- also reveals a connection between low exposure of aspartame and a 62% increase in  lymphomas and leukaemias compared to controls, even though this was not statistically significant." 

I'm no scientist, but I'm baffled as to why 62% -- which seems like quite a lot -- isn't deemed "statistically significant."

Mars Backs Health Research

Mars (as in the chocolate maker), is footing research to show that cocoa -- which most of its chocolate candies contain -- can be used to treat diabetes, strokes, and vascular disease.

Excuse me, from what planet is this Mars confectionary company?

Sure, I'll easily concede that considerable scientific research shows that flavanols -- the plant chemicals found in cocoa -- do contain health benefits, as the Mars-funded Chocolate Information Center aptly points out.

But, come on, chocolate is also loaded with sugar, fat and dairy, which probably far outweigh any positive effects you could get!

Even so, as News.Scotsman.com reported, experts from around the world gathered at a meeting in Switzerland this week organized by Mars to discuss more than 80 peer-reviewed studies about the possible health benefits of flavanols.

Mars (as in the chocolate maker), is footing research to show that cocoa -- which most of its chocolate candies contain -- can be used to treat diabetes, strokes, and vascular disease.

Excuse me, from what planet is this Mars confectionary company?

Sure, I'll easily concede that considerable scientific research shows that flavanols -- the plant chemicals found in cocoa -- do contain health benefits, as the Mars-funded Chocolate Information Center aptly points out.

But, come on, chocolate is also loaded with sugar, fat and dairy, which probably far outweigh any positive effects you could get!

Even so, as News.Scotsman.com reported, experts from around the world gathered at a meeting in Switzerland this week organized by Mars to discuss more than 80 peer-reviewed studies about the possible health benefits of flavanols.

Tips For Would-Be Authors

This is completely off topic, but I was very intrigued by these words of advice to wanna-be authors from master marketer Seth Godin.

Who knows, if I'd been privy to info like this three years ago, I might have chosen to self publish SUGAR SHOCK! rather than pursue the traditional publisher route. Thanks for the intriguing ideas, Seth.

One thing's for sure -- as I've learned from all these seminars I've been attending -- authors need to be quite pro-active, and so that's why I'm doing this SUGAR SHOCK! Blog.

Blogging Networking is Cool! I Do Sugar Educating, Too!

A few days ago, I succumbed to blogging about blogging, in a post entitled, "Befuddled by Blogging. Books to Blog By," because lately, people (colleagues, fellow authors, etc.) have been deluging me with requests for information about launching and building their blogs.

What's so amazing about blogging is that this budding Internet art form, if you will, is a remarkable, heretofore inconceivable way to make really influential professional contacts, who, of course, have their own contacts, and so on.

Suffice it to say that blogging is revolutionizing communications (as Hugh Hewitt so eloquently points out in his book, Blog). Once you network with fellow bloggers, you all land up helping each other and building each other's audience.

Let me show you how networking with fellow bloggers can lead to wonderful outcomes. (I'll use myself as an example.)

Last week, Andy Wibbels, who helped me set up my blog, talked about podcasting in a free Conversations With Experts teleseminar with Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman, two savvy bloggers, who've produced the e-book, Build a Better Blog System.

Junk Food Can Trigger Insulin Resistance

Just because children's parents are wealthy doesn't mean they'll be healthy. Likewise, kids from poorer families aren't necessarily less healthy than those kids with richer and better-educated parents.

These findings -- from an international team of researchers from the United Kingdom, Estonia, Denmark and Norway -- challenge the belief that being poor leads to poor health and lifestyles.

In fact, a study in the July 23, 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that eating unhealthy junk food and doing less exercise may be why children of better educated parents experience a high level of insulin resistance, which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and more.

Their conclusions were based after studying 3,189 randomly selected schoolchildren from Denmark, one of Europe's richest countries, and Estonia and Portugal, two poorer countries.

This study is just the latest of many that illustrates the severe health consequences of eating junk food. And it's happening all around the world. Please, parents, watch what your children eat!

Connie's Confession: Sugarfree "Sinning"

Well, I'm really embarrassed. In fact, I'm not sure if I should even post this item.

You see, last night, I disappointed myself. I let myself down. In fact, my actions might make you lose respect for me. I know I have.

Siimply put, I allowed myself to be ruled -- not by sugar, but by a bunch of bite-sized Joseph's Sugar-Free Coconut Cookies containing maltitol.

I'll get straight to the point.

• Please don't abandon me for my sugarfree "sinning."
• Please continue to post your fascinating comments.
• Please keep sending friends, family members, co-workers, and more to this site.
• Please keep returning to this blog for the scoop about sweets -- sugars and artificial sweeteners.
• Please learn from my mistakes!
• Please read on, because I want your ideas for how I should have handled this and could have handled this.
• Please be gentle with me because I feel like crap today!

Granted, I didn't turn to cookies with sugar, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, barley malt or honey. But I did cave into cookies, even if they had maltitol and not sugars.

You see, artificial or low-calorie sweeteners just aren't as safe as we're led to believe by the companies that sell them. I've been "forced" to study this, because members of my KickSugar group kept asking me about fake sweeteners.

Cookies Aren't the Answer to the Late-Afternoon Slump!

Yesterday afternoon, I witnessed SUGAR SHOCK! in action at an amazing "Excellence in Media: The Language of Impact" training event led by the talented Joel Roberts, a former popular L.A. radio host-turned media coach.

The day was going wonderfully until around 4 p.m., when somehow, out of nowhere, some three to four boxes of small, Round black cookies -- whose brand name I won't share, but you can fill in the blanks -- suddenly landed up on about four different tables.

"Ouch," I thought.

Hands spread out anxiously to get these "goodies." Politeness disappeared and a "gotta-get-me-some attitude" reigned instead. (OK, I'm exaggerating a bit.)

It was, of course, the Late-Afternoon Slump Time.

You know, it's late in the day, you've been focusing all day at work -- or, in this case, at a conference. Your brains getting fuzzy, you're running low on concentration power, you're pooping out, and you're even low on gusto. What are you gonna do? Well, you turn to cookies!

Sound familiar? Of course, it does! (I certainly once knew the patterns quite well.)

Well, in agony, I watched my fellow conference attendees nosh away at the nutrition-lacking sweets -- a couple of people even played games with the nibbles, pulling them apart and eating the centers first. (Come to think of it, I used to do that, too.)

Man's Best Friend Detects Blood Sugar Lows & Highs

If you're diabetic, it can be quite terrifying to not know when your blood sugar will swing too high or go to low. Granted, you should monitor your diet and exercise, but man's best friend also can come to the rescue.

Indeed, the unique Heaven Scent Paws, a Missouri-based organization incorporated in 2004, provides specially trained diabetic alert dogs, who can help you (if you're diabetic), your partner or other loved ones to detect both hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).

Almost sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, this is for real.

Heaven Scent Paws puts the dogs' acute olfactory sense to good use. Essentially, specially trained dogs learn to identify a chemical (as yet unnamed) on their master's breath and skin that emerge as soon as the glucose level begins to drop.

Sugarcane For Biodegradable Plates? Hmm

It's always fun to scout around the Internet, especially when you hit upon a jewel of a story. In this particular instance, I became captivated by an interview posted on News Target, which often features well-reported, in-depth pieces about health and nutrition.

The piece that made me stop clicking discussed how it's feasible to take the waste fiber from the sugar cane refining process (Bagasse) and turn it into biodegradable paper plates, bowls, pizza containers, and even supermarket trays.

And you thought sugar was only to sweeten foods?

Thanks to Mike Adams ("The Health Ranger") for this informative Q & A with Bret ("Buzz") Chandler, president of Asean Corporation, makers of Stalk Market, which makes the unique biodegradable containers.

I don't know about you, but I sure want to know more about this compostable, recyclable, freezer safe, microwavable product!

Chuckle! Meet "Connie, The Sugar Shrew" of 1998!

Good morning. For those of you struggling with what seems like an overwhelming sugar addiction, I'd like to amuse you by letting you laugh at me.

That's right. Go ahead, have some fun! Meet "Connie, the Sugar Shrew!" -- No More! that is!

I'm inviting you into my weird world (that once was) so you'll be privvy to a few off-putting actions of this unsavory Connie chick -- ugh, me 7-plus years ago.

Laugh at Your Silly Behavior

Now that you can see how I get glee from poking fun of myself, I have a few quick pointers for those of you feeling ensnared by a sugar or quickie-carb habit:

• Laugh at yourself!
• See the absurdity and silliness of your sugar shenanigans!
• Look at yourself as if you were a "lab rat." That means you just view yourself from outside yoiur body. By doing this, you'll get a microscopic view of how "crazy" you sometimes behave when it comes to sweets and quickie carbs.
• Marvel and smile at the ridiculous lengths to which you sometimes go for your "sugar fix."

Seriously, if you're one of those folks whose day (at least partly) revolves around candies, cookies, and chips, you can gain so much (and I don't mean weight) by seeing yourself with a more playful, mischievous, lighthearted attitude.

Sales Soar of Diet Candy

The average American's sweet tooth is very much alive -- even if he or she doesn't eat foods containing real sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

That's right. Sales of low-sugar and low-fat candies in the U.S. quadrupled between 2000 and 2004, reports a new study, "Market Trends: Diet Candy -- The World of Low-Sugar, Low-Carb and Low-Calorie Confection."

Last year alone, consumers forked over an estimated $495 million in diet candy, compared with $118 million four years earlier, according to the report from Packaged Facts, a division of Rockville, Md.-based MarketResearch.com.

That's one hot trend -- but one that I do not welcome.

You might be wondering: "What do you mean, Connie, you talk a lot about the health hazards of eating too much sugar. Why aren't you happy that more and more folks are turning to diet products? ? After all, many people obviously eat them to lose weight, as The Washington Post observed.

You see, while researching and writing my book SUGAR SHOCK!, members of my free online KickSugar group kept asking me about artificial sweeteners. "Are they safe? Do they trigger a rise in blood sugar levels? Will I lose weight while eating or drinking them?"

Ethics in Blogging Survey

Right before and after launching this SUGAR SHOCK! Blog in early June, I've become impassioned and incredibly curious about this mode of communicating and informing folks via daily Internet posts.

A blog such as this one is a living, breathing (so to speak) Internet entity that far surpasses the capabilities of my websites, such as my two-year-old SugarShock.com.  

Lately, as I've been reading fellow bloggers' posts, I"ve been thinking a lot about the bloggers. What's their education? What drives them? How accurate are they? Do they link freely to sources? Where do they get their information? Are they ethical?

Well, thanks to Blogcritics.org, I learned about an interesting new Ethics In Blogging study just released by three undergrads from the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Uncle Sam Turns Kids Over to Big Food

If you care about what kinds of ads our nation's kids are seeing -- and how our young ones are being cleverly convinced to buy sugary and junk foods galore -- you simply must read this astute, thoughtful commentary from public health attorney Michele Simon.

Basically, this op ed piece, also picked up by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, gives a rundown of last week's federal government-funded meeting about how food companies market foods to children. Simon offers an eye-opening perspective to the meeting on Marketing, Self-Regulation, and Childhood Obesity,

Why should you listen to Simon? Well, she teachers health policy at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and she directs the non-profit group, Informed Food Choices. Besides, she's quite articulate.

Rather than even attempt to summarize Simon's arguments, I invite you to immediately read this important account, "Government Abandons Children to Big Food."

While you're at it, check out the viewpoints of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Next, let's hear your rants and opinions.