And High Fructose Corn Syrup, the kind of sugar that is cheapest for the frankenfood manufacturers to use might just be the worst kind of sugar to let your children consume.

But for many of us, that craving for sugar doesn't diminish with age as the article suggests. It didn't diminish for me, but I quit knowing I was sweetening myself into an early grave like my parents.

I worked as an entertainer on cruise ships for 3 years. We were welcomed at the midnight buffett as long as the line wasn't too long (passengers first) so we would sit and wait for the opening rush to die down. We'd watch adults, even seniors, with a plate piled high with sweet desserts and when they get to the end of the line to get their coffee, ask for a sugar substitute (always a point of amusement).

The flavor is either in the sugar or the fat, and since the sugar industry and their tacit bribes have the government, AHA, and other supposedly unbiased authorities telling us fat is bad, where else are people going to turn for flavor? You guessed it.

The so called experts that call the traditional Inuit diet (high in fat) and the French (high in fat) results of lower obesity and lower incidence of cancer to be exceptions --- I call it evidence that fat is better than sugar.

But I have no degrees in medicine or nutrition, so I am just looking at the world from my point of view.

I have another observational hypothesis. Our ancestors for millions of years cultivated the taste for sweetness because it puts fat on our bodies.

Fruit and starch plants ripen right before the starvation season (winter in temperate climates and the dry season in the tropics). The people who had that sweet tooth could gorge themselves on sweets and starch, gain a lot of body fat, and when the starvation season came around, had enough reserves to get through to the times of plenty again. Those who didn't put on the weight starved and didn't get to pass on those non-sweet eating genes.

And not just humans. When bears come out of hibernation they want protein and fat. Right before hibernation the berries and fruit ripen, they gorge themselves and put on enough fat to feed them while they take their winter nap.

Back on thread

I don't keep sugar or sugary foods in the house, and if I had children at home, I still wouldn't. I wouldn't feed them sugar bomb breakfast cereal either. I would lead by example and tough love.

Bob