Free Republic

This sounds like good news...The leader of the Black Socialist Caucus says the debt deal is a “sugar-coated Satan sandwich.” That must mean it is a much better deal than we had hoped for. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver is the current leader of the Black Caucus (without black Republican members) Roll Call reported: President Barack Obama’s rightward lurch to reach a $3 trillion deficit reduction deal with no guarantee of additional revenues had liberals fuming and Republicans all but declaring victory Sunday afternoon. With time running out to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling before Tuesday’s default deadline, Obama...

Within the last few years, we have been treated to attempts by government to control our food intake with regulatory “nudges” and legislative edicts. Sugar, salt, trans-fats, fats in general, fast foods, and school lunches are just a few ingredients and food types which have come under assault by sanctimonious busybodies seeking to dictate “healthy” eating to everyone.New York Times food writer  provides the latest in we-know-what’s-best-for-you babble. In a Times op-ed, Bittman complains, “WHAT will it take to get Americans to change our eating habits?”The question itself makes a fundamentally flawed assumption and exhibits arrogance. Why is it anyone’s...

American Crystal Sugar threatens a lockout, which would be the company's first work stoppage since 1981. When the first sugar beets ripen and the Red River ... A lockout would affect three Minnesota plants -- in Moorhead, East Grand Forks and Crookston -- and mills in Hillsboro and Drayton, N.D. The last time American Crystal Sugar had a work stoppage was in 1981, when the union struck for almost a month. Union representatives say American Crystal Sugar's contract proposal would dismantle seniority rights and allow the company to contract out union jobs to outside firms. There also is disagreement over...

Obesity and diabetes rates continue to rise despite decline in consumption of sweetenersWASHINGTON – A comprehensive review of research focusing on the debate between High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and other sweeteners presented today finds there is no evidence of any significant variation in the way the human body metabolizes HFCS as opposed to standard table sugar, or any difference in impact on risk factors for chronic disease. James M. Rippe, MD, founder and director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute and professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Central Florida, presented a summary of recent research entitled -- "High...

American sugar farmers and refiners have filed a suit to stop big corn processors from marketing high-fructose corn syrup as a “natural” product equivalent to real sugar. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by Western Sugar Cooperative, Michigan Sugar Company and C & H Sugar Company, Inc., charges that the “corn sugar” branding campaign financed by the corn refining industry’s giant companies constitutes false advertising under federal and state law. The processors’ campaign was launched as a way to thwart declining sales of high-fructose corn syrup, or “HFCS.” Companies named as defendants include Archer Daniels Midland...

Sorry to bother everyone with vanity post. Two weeks ago I started on Metformin, a drug used to control sugar. My doctor told me I am close to having diabetes, if I do not already have it. I wanted to hear about your experiences when you found out you had diabetes, the symptoms and how you live your life now. (diet, exercise, drinking) I appreciate your input. I have no clue what to do, what to eat,when to eat. Going to endocrinologist next week. Thanks

The table displayed immediately below is likely to surprise even our most-jaded readers. It shows the astronomical increase in cash prices for well-known food commodities over the past 12 months. With inarguable exactness, it contradicts the nearly constant prattle in the mainstream press that inflation is under control, or that it is peaking and likely to come under control sometime soon. Some items on the list have doubled -- even tripled -- in price over the past year. Others have risen at mere double-digit rates.

Doctors have discovered that adding sugar to antibiotics increases their ability to knock out persistent staph infections (abstract). Certain types of bacteria called persisters shut down their metabolic processes when exposed to antibiotics. Adding sugar keeps the bacteria feeding, making them more susceptible to drugs. From the article: "Adding such a simple and widely available compound to existing antibiotics enhances their effectiveness against persisters, and fast. One test showed that a sugared up antibiotic could eliminate 99.9 percent of persisters in two hours, while a regular antibiotic did nothing. Doctors believe that this discovery will help treat urinary tract infections,...

With schools under increasing pressure to offer healthier food, the staple on children's cafeteria trays has come under attack over the very ingredient that made it so popular — sugar. Some school districts have gone as far as prohibiting flavored milk, and Florida considered a statewide ban in schools. Other districts have sought a middle ground by replacing flavored milks containing high-fructose corn syrup with versions containing sugar, which some see as a more natural sweetener. Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest school district, is the latest district to tackle the issue. Superintendent John Deasy recently announced he would push...

...When I set out to interview public health authorities and researchers for this article, they would often initiate the interview with some variation of the comment “surely you’ve spoken to Robert Lustig,” not because Lustig has done any of the key research on sugar himself, which he hasn’t, but because he’s willing to insist publicly and unambiguously, when most researchers are not, that sugar is a toxic substance that people abuse... ...What we have to keep in mind, says Walter Glinsmann, the F.D.A. administrator who was the primary author on the 1986 report and who now is an adviser to...

It was once a staple of public school cafeterias that blended the indulgent and the nutritious, satisfying parents and children both. But chocolate milk is uncontroversial no more. Dozens of districts have demanded reformulations. Others have banned it outright. At the center of these battles are complex public health calculations: Is it better to remove sugary chocolate flavorings at the risk that many students will skip milk altogether, missing out on crucial calcium and Vitamin D? Or should schools instead make tweaks — less fat, different sweeteners, fewer calories — that might salvage the benefits while while minimizing the downside?...

The collapse of communism brought an end to many of the world’s command-and-control economic systems and central planning by government bureaucrats. But a notable exception is the United States government’s sugar program. A complicated system of marketing allotments, price supports, purchase guarantees, quotas and tariffs that only a Soviet apparatchik could love, the U.S. sugar program has actually lasted longer than the Soviet Union itself. It imposes a hidden tax of billions of dollars annually on consumers and businesses and has destroyed thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs. It substitutes the federal government for the private sector in basic decisions about...

Rocketing prices of fruit juice in commodity markets could soon make apple and orange juice an unaffordable "luxury," a trade publication says. The Grocer magazine says a series of bad harvests from Florida to China, combined with increased demand from Asian countries, has pushed the price of orange and apple juices up on the world market, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Friday. Industry experts say prices could increase by as much as 80 per cent for orange juice and 60 per cent for apple juice in 2011, the newspaper said. In the past year, the price of a one-quart carton of...

Fears about global food price inflation. The soft commodity on Tuesday surpassed the 29-year high it hit in February this year, on concern about low crop yields in Brazil and restricted exports from India. Raw sugar futures topped 30.6 cents per pound at one point on Tuesday before settling slightly lower. Its fresh peak comes after a volatile year, in which the price of sugar had dramatically dropped by half by May this year. A sharp fall in Brazil's estimated production is behind the latest spike, while India's decision to withhold exports has added to a tight supply. Prices have...

Starbucks Corp... announced plans for "targeted" price increases in some markets on certain products as green arabica coffee prices hit 13-year high and other raw ingredients jump. "Over the last six months a highly speculative green coffee market and dramatically increased commodity costs have completely altered the economic and financial picture of many players in the coffee industry," said Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz. "And while many, if not most, coffee roasters and retailers began raising prices months ago, we have thus far chosen to absorb the price increases ourselves and not pass them on to our customers. But...

Sarah Hughes-Deeney peered down at the label on the plastic iced tea bottle.Bingo.No added sweeteners. Most important, no high fructose corn syrup. Hughes-Deeney, 30, who was shopping in Omaha at Whole Foods with her husband, John Deeney, and two young children, tries to avoid high fructose corn syrup and other added sweeteners when picking food and beverages. Advertising An alternative sugar's history

Things are changing for corn syrup. Hunt's and Snapple are just 2 of the companies who have decided to listen to consumers' wants and use sugar instead of corn syrup. More and more companies are starting to jump on the no corn syrup band wagon and it is showing up in the use of corn syrup dropping 11% . The use of sugar has risen approx. 7%.

* A diet high in fructose can increase uric acid levels, but allopurinol may help lower the resulting high blood pressure, researchers say. Men who took the drug to mitigate the effects of a high-fructose diet did not experience the increase in blood pressure observed among men on the same diet who did not take the drug, Richard Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado, and colleagues said at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Chicago. "These results support the idea that fructose, such as present in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, could have a...

Researchers Say Precise Link Between Sweets And Violence Unclear We know candy is bad for your children's teeth. But could it also cause bad behavior later in life? CBS 2's Jim Williams looks at a new study linking kids and sugar to violent crimes. Laura Budill had her hands full with her sons, Nathan, 3 and Tyler, 2, at a Lincoln Park playground Tuesday. They were active enough without sweets; but with sugar? "Every child is different," said Budill. "For my children, I know that it causes them to act out in hyperactivity." So Laura only allows them to have...

Overseas, the US Army has banned Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway food vendors from serving troops stationed in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal characterized the new policy as “aimed at preserving the lives and health of our men in uniform. The cholesterol and salt in the foods served by these vendors are as deadly as the IEDs our soldiers have to face on a daily basis. What good will it do a soldier to dodge the bullets and bombs in Afghanistan only to be felled 40 or 50 years later by heart failure?” The General dismissed some soldiers’ contentions that...