High Fructose Corn Syrup Confirmed to be more unhealthy than sugar

High fructose corn syrup has finally been confirmed by evidence to cause more weight gain that sugar.

The US government, by propping up sugar costs, encourages food companies (like Coke or Pepsi) to use HFCS instead of sugar.  With this new research emerging there are a few story lines I'll be following:

1. How will policy makers resolve the conflict between the health of their constituents with the corn lobby?
2. How will the corn lobby respond?  I've seen ads on TV touting that HFCS has never been proven to behave differently from sugar.  Now it has.  If those ads are displayed anymore, I can see lawsuits.
3. How long until a major company switches back to sugar?  Pepsi has already experimented with "throwback" versions of its products and Mexican coke is very popular.  So is Dublin Dr Pepper.  

Why nutrition labels are a damned good idea

Stepping away from the current healthcare debate, there is one area of the healthcare bill that will make a very visible presence in all of our lives: mandated nutrition information on menus. 

There are some libertarians who aren't happy about this, but count me as one who goes against the grain.  Most restaurants will already provide diners with nutrition information upon request.  Not all will.  

This bill does not force people to make certain menu choices, and the inconveniences to restaurants are minimal.  We are talking about maybe a few days of analyzing the ingredients in your meals, and then printing some new menus.  Consumers are not inconvenienced at all; they will simply be given information up front that usually takes some digging (think about Google vs going to a library).

This is actually a bit of libertarian paternalism, which you can read more about in Nudge.

The bottom line is this: if consumers are shown that their favorite pasta dish at Macaroni Grille contains 2,500 calories (this is just a guess, not picking on Macaroni Grille) and the customer sees this when ordering, there is probably a good chance that most consumers will opt for a lower calorie dish, or at least split this with another person.  The truth is, that restaurant dishes contain a HUGE amount of calories, sometimes orders of magnitude higher than a home cooked meal.  Look at the "Plain Jane Potato" at supposed "healthy" eatery Jason's Deli.

It contains a whopping 2300 calories, 147 grams of fat, and 2500 mg of sodium.  In other words, it contains all of the calories and sodium you require in a DAY, and enough fat to last you for 2.5 days.  I think if people saw this on the menu when ordering, they would probably opt for something healthier.  Or maybe not.  In any case, having this information easily available to the consumer will likely lead to healthier choices, fewer deaths, and possibly lower calorie options on the menu.

In summary, nutrition labels have done a lot to help you buy food at the grocery store, and now will serve a similar purpose when you dine out.

Historic Healthcare Legislation Passes

Decades in the making, the healthcare reform bill that many have been waiting for has passed.  The bill is not perfect, but it is still the right thing to do.

I, myself am not happy about one aspect, which will prohibit the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA's) to spend on non-prescription drugs.  What this means, is that legally I cannot use my tax free account to pay for aspirin, contact lens solution, and things like that.  However, this is merely a change to the Internal Revenue law, meaning that the only way someone would get hit for using their HSA this way, is if their taxes were audited and it was found they used the money for this purpose.  It will be a nightmare both to enforce and to educate the public on, since FSA's are seemingly unchanged.  Now there will be some expenses that are HSA and FSA eligible and some that are just HSA eligible.

But I digress; there are definitely some positives to this bill.  Largely speaking, it will make the loss of a job less likely to lead to a loss in healthcare.  While not all changes take effect for several years, there will be high risk pools, and options available to people with pre-existing conditions.  Soon enough, our system will probably be closer to the Swiss system, than any other.  And it is probably one of the better systems, a mix of public and private.

Time will tell if this is a success or a failure, but what is certain is that some type of change is definitely on its way.