So via my previous post you have some sense of the harm corn syrup is doing to us. How did things get to this point, where corn syrup is found so pervasively in our foods? Check out this post for the details. The short version is: lobbying and government subsidies, with the Archer Daniels Midlands company as the villain.

This has come up a couple of times in email and IM conversations I’ve had over the past month or so, the fact that there is evidence that there is a link between the increased intake of high fructose (and other forms) of corn syrup over the past couple of decades and the increased rate of type II diabetes in north Americans. I had lost the link I had to the first research I had read on the subject. I watch a lot of medical RSS feeds and fortunately this came through today. It’s dense, but it lays out the case pretty comprehensively. The short version for folks who can’t spend the time to read it: read the labels on your food carefully. Avoid prepackaged, pre-prepared foodstuffs, soft drinks, and prepackaged sweetened beverages in general, and above all avoid corn syrup and all its derivatives. There was a recent article in the NY Times which showed that 33% of the kids born in NYC within the last 5 years will develop type II diabetes. It’s an epidemic and no one is immune – learn to watch what you eat.

All of this is just a part of it of course – a balanced, healthy diet and regular exercise are just as important, but the above stuff is actually the easiest thing to do – stop buying the 20 oz. cokes at lunch and microwaving that chef boyardee ravioli, your endocrine system will thank you.

Man, the medical establishment can drive one nuts. Check out the results of an 8 year study on the effects of a low-fat diet in this article in the New York Times. The answer? Not much at all in terms of the incidence of heart disease and various cancers between the women on the diet and the ones who were not. This is apparently one of the most comprehensive studies of this nature ever conducted, and the results have thrown things into confusion for dietitian and physicians trying to advise their patients, including folks like me. The article is well worth a look for anyone interested in healthy eating.

One of the side effects of the warm winter has been that Soolin has actually picked up a couple of ticks, including one in January which I would have thought was impossible. As a happy coincidence, Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools site mentioned a cheap apparently very safe and effective tick removal tool, the . I just added this to my amazon wishlist – as soon as I’ve used it to remove a tick I’ll post a review. Even if it’s only mediocre though it has got to be better than my current ‘work at it with tweezers’ method of removal.