Blogs

“Food Identity Theft” was a twice-weekly blog that my sister Linda and I researched and wrote from 2012 to 2015 for the Washington, D.C. nonprofit Citizens for Health (which subsequently led to our being asked to co-author the book, “Badditives!” by Skyhorse Publishing). The following blogs are among those that I wrote during the last 15 months of that period, which included some enterprise reporting on the substitution of “fructose” for high fructose corn syrup in various products and the inclusion of the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate in a popular brand of potato chips and snacks that were being misrepresented as containing Old Bay Seasoning, a far more innocuous ingredient. The MSG was removed the year after these blogs were published.

‘OldBaygate’ — a deception with the potential to spoil any Super Bowl party

With “Deflategate” having become the main topic of conversation in the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, we’d like to take this opportunity to briefly change the subject to one much closer to home for millions of football fans and their families and guests. It’s one we’ve talked about before, but that we thought needed to be reemphasized, if for no other reason than to keep a festive occasion from turning into a fiasco – or worse yet, a visit to the emergency room.
We’ve even given it a name – OldBaygate.
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Role of diet in Alzheimer’s underscored by treatment that reversed symptoms

Could the typical American diet of fake processed foods – and the witches’ brew of toxic additives they contain — be a contributing factor to the steadily increasing number of Alzheimer’s cases and deaths that this country has been experiencing in recent years?
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A ‘study’ in collusion: Cornell and the Corn Refiners

When we refer to “a study” done at some prestigious university, we’re usually talking about scientific research in which the effects of a particular substance on animal or human subjects have been carefully evaluated over a period of time, and then published in a peer-reviewed professional journal. A number of such studies cited in this blog, for example, have suggested a link between high fructose corn syrup consumption and obesity, diabetes and other ailments.
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Another product containing ‘fructose’ makes ‘no HFCS’ claim meaningless

It’s another one of those cases where the claim on the front of the package doesn’t seem to jibe with an ingredient you find listed on the side.
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Eggs about to be ‘officially’ exonerated. But what about butter?

Call it the exoneration of eggs. If you still feel “guilty” about enjoying eggs in the morning because of an decades-old nutritional “rap sheet” identifying them as a prime suspect in heart disease, you’ll be happy to know they’re on the verge of being officially cleared of all charges.
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Type 2 diabetes in those under 30 and HFCS: both ‘unheard of’ a while back

A report just published by the Mayo Clinic has identified the fructose being added to products in the form of high fructose corn syrup as a particular driver of type 2 diabetes. Of course, that’s not the first time such a link has been made — but it does provide further support for an increasingly plausible explanation of why so many young people are now being classified as diabetics.
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New comparative ‘study’ of cooking oils omits the most essential one of all

Often, what’s left out of a food-related “study” speaks volumes about what the ulterior motive behind it might be. And in some instances, what’s missing is actually what consumers really need to know most.
A case in point is a recent study of cooking oils published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and done in, of all places, Tunisia.
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Our choices for the three worst foods you could possibly serve this Thanksgiving

Okay, we know it’s almost Thanksgiving, and we certainly don’t want to put a damper on the festive Norman Rockwell-type dinner you may be planning.
What we would like to do, however, is help you to avoid certain products that are being promoted as ideal for the occasion, but which can only serve to mar your holiday feast with some very unhealthy and undesirable ingredients.
While there are undoubtedly a number of items fitting that description that are now being sold in your local supermarket, we’d like to “talk turkey” about three in particular that we found being prominently displayed at ours.
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Yes, you can have a delicious birthday cake that’s healthy, too

The other day, I mentioned to a friend that I would be baking my sister Linda an organic cake for her birthday. He made a wry face and, in a voice tinged with sarcasm, replied, “Boy, I’ll bet that will really be delicious!”
“Actually, it will,” I replied. And, despite the fact that I’m hardly what you’d call a pastry chef (or a chef of any sort), it actually turned out to be even more delicious than anticipated – in fact, about as good as it gets, cakewise (even if that does sound a bit like bragging).
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