I disagree with those who say, "Everything in moderation." Would you want your child taking heroin in moderation -- or your spouse having affairs in moderation? If you want to protect your brain, you need to get off the sugar.

The soda ban was an imperfect beginning, surely, but it was a beginning. It was not going to end our sugar addiction any more than making bars smoke-free was going to get the city to en masse kick the smoking habit. It was a one small factor in a complex equation.

Did the Bloomberg proposal have faults? You bet. Did it have loopholes? Sure. Would it present an enforcement nightmare? Probably, although not nearly as bad as critics have suggested. But that does that mean we sit back and do nothing?

Mary Poppins may have had the best intentions in mind, but if "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," the new mantra is "no sodas today keeps the doctor away."

The statement that fructose is toxic is, simply, false. Fruit contains fructose. Honey, which has been part of the human diet since the Stone Age, contains more fructose than glucose. Saying that fructose is toxic but fruit is not is like saying that democracy is evil, but the United States is fine.

I have great respect and appreciation for the Times, and a fair portion of both for the insights of foodie/journalist Mark Bittman. But I have just about none of either for the combination of the two represented in an editorial by Mr. Bittman in the Times this week declaring sugar toxic.

The new study in Public Health Nutrition reminds us that in developing countries, sugar intake continues to rise. Therefore, the developing world needs policies that limit added sugars, hopefully before the train leaves the station.

Sugar in excess is a toxin, unrelated to its calories. The dose determines the poison. Like alcohol, a little sugar is fine, but a lot is not. And the food industry has put us way over our limit.

For the sake of your New Year's resolution and your waistline, I'm here to tell you not to believe the hype about sugar. It, like everything else, can fit into a balanced diet in moderation. And if you have instituted a resolution to give it up and find yourself on the failing end, there's still hope.

Sugar -- especially in soft drinks -- should be placed in the same category as alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. I can hear the moans from Coca-Cola and Pepsi, but it is a fact that reducing the amount of sugar in sweetened drinks can make a huge difference.

A high-sugar diet won't do your skin many favors, but incorporating it into your topical beauty routine can deliver some pretty sweet results.

Are you angry with yourself because you can't seem to turn down tempting desserts or other empty-calorie carbs -- even though you began your day determined to eat cleanly?

The other night I was watching 60 Minutes and saw a segment on sugar. It fit neatly into this piece that I had started on a few days earlier. It seems...

If you are skeptical by nature, you may have thought the segment last night claiming sugar was toxic was some kind of April Fool's joke. Certainly, you thought the scientists appearing on the show were overreacting in saying that sugar might be addictive. Let me tell you, they weren't.

We need to know that we consume too much sugar and that it does us harm because, ostensibly, knowledge is power. In that spirit, we in public health have cause to welcome some important new allies to the mission of advancing health through better nutrition: museums.