Food & Beverage (page 188)

Organic marketers are taking advantage of anti-choice activists’ scare tactics to make all sorts of claims about the “benefits of eating organic.” One of the most deceptive involves the selling…

Activists continue to try to link sugar and soft drink consumption to health problems and they continue to fail. Scientist Barry Popkin, while admitting his new study finds no proof of sugared drinks causing any health problems, says parents should "restrict their kids' soft drink and fruit drink consumption" anyway. Center for Science in the Public Interest president Michael Jacobson immediately endorsed the research, saying studies like this "are the reason that we've asked the FDA to recommend limits on daily sugar intake."

The Washington Times continues to perpetuate the myth that choosing to drink soda causes calcium deficiencies in children. In the article, the director of the National Institute of Child Health and Development says having too many choices is the problem.

It's the good ol' summertime and you can't blame the Chicago Sun-Times for celebrating the growing array of frosty, frothy coffee drinks now available. Enter the killjoys from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI): "Most of us don't need those extra calories. Plain coffee has virtually no calories. But if you add a little sugar, you're talking 16 to 20 calories per spoonful. And these 32 ounce beverages -- good grief, that's a lot to be consuming."

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel repeats the ridiculous idea of a “Twinkie tax” as a way to pay for national campaigns designed to promote healthier lifestyles. We remind you that this…

The war against choice continues in the nation's school system as a hundred of the leading nanny groups call on Congress to invalidate contracts signed between soda and snack food industries and local school districts.

The British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has forced the leading British anti-choice nannies at the Soil Association to retract a leaflet entitled "Five Reasons to Eat Organic." The ASA ruled activists could not substantiate claims that organic food was healthier, consumers could taste the difference, organic was better for the environment, and organic meant healthy, happy animals.

A San Francisco Chronicle columnist thinks way outside the box when she suggests that making it easier (and cheaper) for people to exercise more might help address the obesity epidemic. It certainly puts the responsibility where it belongs - on the individual, not the people serving the food.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gives organic foods a plug, complete with unfounded safety and health claims.

Reuters repeats the results of a study that, without any solid correlation, blames rising obesity largely on the fact that people eat at restaurants more often than they used to.