That unrelenting sun that's been scorching your lawn and straining your air conditioner? It's about to send your grocery bill soaring too. Record-breaking heat and reduced rainfall are wreaking havoc on the corn crop -- and corn goes into practically everything we eat.
Forget cigarettes: The big public health boogyman now is obesity. The idea that our growing waistlines pose a hefty threat to our financial well-being is gaining momentum, and all signs point to this trend having a big impact on public opinion and public policy.
Plans by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to restrict the sale of sodas and other sugary drinks have many businesses fizzing. He says his goal is to help our waistlines; but will consumers pay the price in other ways?
New York's Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a law that could make it harder to quench your thirst: It would ban the sale of sugary soft drinks in cups larger than 16 ounces. In the spirit of helpfulness and civil disobedience, here are a few ways around it.
Experts say high-fructose corn syrup contributes to the obesity epidemic, and the FDA just blocked its makers from calling it "corn sugar." But there's an even smarter way the government could foil this fat-maker.
America's food chain has lately produced a bumper crop of scary news, but the worst food-related threat to our health was being caused by U.S. energy policy: Here's how the corn ethanol subsidy was making us fatter, and why to be glad that Congress finally killed it.
Soda and processed-food makers insist that all sugars are the same. Yet with studies linking fructose to obesity, diabetes and, most recently, pancreatic cancer, big brands are quietly backing away from using corn-based high-fructose sweetener. Could it eventually become another tobacco-like liability?
