The Dairy Forum

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jan 19, 2010 at 12:40:32 PM PST

Today I sat on a panel at the International Dairy Food Association's Dairy Forum. The topic was "What do consumers want - really?" The panelists were a longtime Washington Post writer who now works at Powell Tate, Sally Squires, an exec from Sargento cheese, Louie Gentine, and a marketing guru, Tom Nagle. I told the audience that I wore a red shirt so that if they threw rotten tomatoes at me at least the stains would blend in. I was very much there to represent a minority opinion that was probably not a welcome one for many dairy processors. It was an extremely pleasant and lively debate and I really enjoyed each of the panelists and everyone from IDFA that I met here at the Dairy Forum.

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Scientists Prove Fructose-Diabetes Link

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 20:38:22 PM PST

Well, it turns out that there IS a link between fructose and obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Who would have guessed?

Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a strictly controlled diet, including high levels of fructose, produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems.
People in both groups put on a similar amount of weight. However, researchers at the University of California who conducted the trial, said the levels of weight gain among the fructose consumers would be greater over the long term.
Fructose bypasses the digestive process that breaks down other forms of sugar. It arrives intact in the liver where it causes a variety of abnormal reactions, including the disruption of mechanisms that instruct the body whether to burn or store fat.
"This is the first evidence we have that fructose increases diabetes and heart disease independently from causing simple weight gain," said Kimber Stanhope, a molecular biologist who led the study. "We didn't see any of these changes in the people eating glucose."

So I guess I have to quit making fun of people who proudly drink 100% cane sugar soda and act like it's a health food. Just an FYI - fruits are 5%-10% fructose by weight. I'm guessing there's more of it in fruit juice, which is why it's better to eat fruit than to chug lots of fruit juice.

Here's an article about this same topic by Fooducate. Their #1 recommendation is to skip the soda aisle at the store.

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Pepsi Natural - Pepsi Throwback - Is Sugar Better Than HFCS?

by: Curtis Abbey

Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 02:35:16 AM PST

(I'm with Curtis Abbey... there's nothing healthy about chugging down a bunch of sugar water, no matter whether it's HFCS or sugar. But nice try Pepsi. I wonder if it DOES succeed in giving them a new market for their crap. My hunch is yes. - promoted by Jill Richardson)

Pepsi gives toast to its sugar days

In a nod to the early days of cola, Pepsi will release this year some soft drinks using sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
In select cities, Pepsi is rolling out Pepsi Natural, a premium cola made from natural sugar, caramel, kola nut and apple extract.
Natural will be available in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Las Vegas and New York.
Pepsi also will release Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which will both use sugar and come in retro-look packaging.
The Throwback products will be available across the United States for eight weeks starting April 20.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi both use cane sugar in Latin America. In the United States, they switched to high-fructose corn syrup in the 1980s.
Government regulations in Latin America support the use of sugar while U.S. policy makes corn syrup more affordable here.
Coca-Cola has no plans to release Coke in the United States with sugar, said company spokesman Dan Schafer.

Are there health benefits to this? I will examine that and more...

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School Lunch Nutrition From a Corporate Point of View

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Jan 07, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PST

And now, a word from the sponsors of the School Nutrition Association: ConAgra, Corn Refiners Association, General Mills, Kellogg's, Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods, Nestle, Simplot, and Tyson Foods.

We invite you to have a science-based discussion about high fructose corn syrup:

Science says: High fructose corn syrup and sugars have similar effects in humans

Well, that was the only "science-based" aspect of their discussion at the 2008 School Nutrition Association conference (sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association, who also sponsors those lovely "Sweet Surprise" commercials). The rest was just about public opinion of sugar and HFCS. OK, well there was one of three total presentations that DID touch on science. At least, the side of science the Corn Refiners Association wants you to hear.

So what else was covered in this conference of the experts in providing your child's lunch? How to "be seen as green," how to order commodities, lots about low costs and good PR, and far too little about real nutrition. Be sure to check out the legislative update by Marshall Matz, author of the recent heinous op ed about Obama's food policy... then go see Tom Philpott's commentary on it here.

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