Did you see this?

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory: Eating more omega-3 fatty acids can offset damage, researchers say

"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.

Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid sweetener. The syrup is widely added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes roughly 47 pounds of cane sugar and 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Oh, dear God

Buy a half-gallon of sugar water at KFC, give a dollar to diabetes research
A local promotion promises to give a dollar to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund if you by a mega jug--one-half a gallon of soda. 800 calories, 56 spoonfuls of sugar.

Okay, so Diabetes Type I (also known as Juvenile Diabetes), unlike Diabetes II (sometimes known as Adult-Onset Diabetes, although lots of kids are getting it these days with higher obesity rates), is an autoimmune disorder that does not directly come from drinking sugary drinks and being overweight. But...as the author, Jess Zimmerman, point out, it is somewhat ironic to

"Benefit sick kids by enjoying something they can't!" If you're going to go that route, why not go whole hog and make it a "drink this soda in front of a child with diabetes, making over-the-top yummy noises, and we'll give that kid a dollar" fundraiser

and after all,

You drink half a gallon of soda on the regular, and your chances of perma-f*cking your insulin regulation are going to shoot right up (giving you a unique sense of kinship with the children you're helping, granted). So this is basically equivalent to a "smoke cigarettes to raise money for colon cancer" promotion.

Hear, hear.

Another person, Joe Waters, writing KFC Shows They Don’t Give a Cluck. This Time with Juvenile Diabetes, wonders why the JDRF signed on board to do this.

JDRF, in a statement, points out that it is a promotion in a local KFC in Utah consisting of a single store whose owner has a connexion to juvenile diabetes. Their statement in the comments of that post basically says they value their donors, juvenile diabetes' risk is not associated with sugary goodness, and they don't endorse any particular product or diet.

So it wasn't really something they signed up for, it seems. But on the other hand, as one commenter pointed out, the actions of one store could affect the perception of a larger brand.

I'll leave it up for you to decide if this is in bad taste or not. I think you probably know my thoughts on the matter. And you know some yahoo parents are going to give their (non-diabetic) kids this thing, even though it's bigger than them, practically. And just for the record, let me say that while it was a little weird for my mom to give me diet drinks as a kid, I've been drinking them since age 8, rather than the giant cups of sugar water. Diet sodas aren't particularly great for you either, of course, and there is a lot of concern about artificial sweeteners, but I'm not diabetic because I've been swilling sugary sodas. I'm diabetic due a heavy genetic issue (having four other members in the family with diabetes at present), have eaten way too much so I'm obese, and I don't get enough exercise. So I haven't made good choices, either. But I wouldn't hand a child a half-gallon of sugar water (or imbibe it myself), so I guess there's still some sanity, and at least I'm trying to eat more healthfully and start exercising. I'm afraid I can't do a thing about the genetics, although at least I didn't pass them on. :)

Okay, speaking of diabetes, I just took my insulin, so its time to go back to sleep. I found a couple of good recipes (an heirloom tomato salad with eggs and mustard vinaigrette and also a nice tofu stir fry with bell peppers), whilst listening to blues music. It left me relaxed and I went to sleep for awhile, but I made sure I got up for the medicine. Good night.