Further proof that we should avoid high fructose corn syrup

Jeni and I have, for the most part, given up soft drinks. Now don't get me wrong, we love Coke. Some people come home from a challenging day at work and need their beer or martini. No, I crave a nice fizzy glass of Coke. But we've parted ways, and all for the better. A while back, I began to notice a feeling of tightness in my chest when I would drink a lot of Coke. And when I fall off the wagon and get back on the Coke I gain five pounds pretty quickly.  And now there's this study by UCLA that further highlights the negative affects of high fructose corn syrup. Yes, HFCS is in things other than Coke, but your soft drink is such a fast and efficient mode of delivery that I use it as my example. I praise places like Earthfare that will not carry anything that contains HFCS. It's a challenge, like avoiding aspertame, because HFCS is so prevalent, but the benefits make it worth it.

Flu vaccine article

This is an interesting piece on the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. Get through his first section section where he vents about the fact that vaccine producers won't do evidence-based research. He has a valid point, but he needs to move more to the meat, which is the Cochrane Collaboration, which is heading toward becoming the gold standard in studies on health care. This is where the facts come out -- that the flu vaccine is effective, at best, 1 out of every 100 people, and that it does not help prevent transmission of the disease. Interesting. Yet as a society we continue to inject this over and over again, faithfully doing what the poster at the grocery store tells me to do.

And while I'm linking to articles, here's a good one on exercise and nutrition.