To shore up its lagging business, restaurant chain Denny’s ran an ad during this year’s Super Bowl promising a free breakfast the following Tuesday. A whopping 2 million patrons showed up for their Grand Slam meals. On April 8, they’re back again with a “bring a friend, get a free Grand Slamwich” offer. From a marketing perspective, these are great ideas. The Denny’s brand has gotten “soft” over the past few years and needed to reacquaint consumers with their offerings. By all measures, that objective has been met.

But Denny’s missed an even greater opportunity.

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The debate surrounding the safety of High Fructose Corn Syrup is bubbling. The internet is abuzz with cries for the return of sugar to replace the suspect corn sweetener. This spring expect to see high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) removed from some familiar beverage brands. Snapple owner Dr Pepper Snapple Group just announced that it will be replacing HFCS in its line of Snapple teas with sugar. PepsiCo has joined in the fun with its new Throwback versions of sugar-sweetened Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

The High Fructose Corn Syrup debate centers around studies that suggest 

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During a Live Chat session following an appearance on Good Morning America  last week, I received a number of good questions from the audience about food products, ingredients and their impact on diet, health and obesity. While my focus was on simple ways to help lower caloric intake for those who are struggling with their diet, the most common questions raised were concerns about the “toxins” in our foods and beverages, particularly as it related to

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As Ronald Reagan once said: “There you go again.” The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is once again at their litigious best. They are challenging The Coca-Cola Company for their claims surrounding their Glaceau VitaminWater brand, citing the use of terms such as “defense,” “rescue,” “energy,” and “endurance”  as misleading “health buzz words.” They also note that each bottle contains 33 grams sugar which they suggest will  

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Several grocery chains are implementing new labels to help the consumer identify which products might be more healthy than others. The Healthy Ideas program, just introduced by two northeastern chains, Stop & Shop and Giant Food, is designed to identify varying degrees that products conform to federal guidelines for better-for-you foods. This means that products containing at least one nutritious ingredient, such as calcium, in concert with lower levels of fat or cholesterol will qualify for the designation.

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A recent New York Times op-ed backed a new soda tax advanced by New York Governor David Paterson as a potential cure for obesity. This proposal would tax sugary beverages to the tune of 18% and proponents argue that this approach would lead to reductions in consumption similar to cigarettes.

Let’s look more closely at the proposal. 

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