The Australian Heart Foundation has found a new and even more devious way to entangle itself with the interests of the processed-food industry.
Articles by David Gillespie 
The glycemic index has passed its use-by date
The glycemic index is not just bad science, it has a dangerous loophole big enough to drive an ice-cream truck through.
The sugar bomb is ticking away dangerously
The line-up of Heart Foundation tick-approved products will now include some of the highest sugar breakfast cereals on sale in Australia, writes David Gillespie.
Why we shouldn’t put up with sportspeople advertising sugar
CSR’s admission as to the dangers of fructose is far more than any tobacco company ever managed (before they were forced to). We banned cigarette advertising at sporting events almost 20 years ago.
Heart Foundation tick and Coles tick go against the grain
The Heart Foundation is getting its undies in a twist about Coles using a tick on its branding. But consumers might be healthier if they let the Coles tick guide their purchases.
Healthy advice from the nutrition hierarchy? Fat chance
For the past three decades the NHMRC and Heart Foundation have been spending our hard-earned tax dollars telling us to eat less fat. For at least the past 10 years, that message has been demonstrably wrong.
Soda pop not that soft: fizzy drinks linked to pancreatic cancer
It’s time to wake up, smell the (unsweetened) coffee and act on sugar before we sentence even more Australians to death by pancreatic cancer.
Where’s the F word … err fructose … in healthy thinking debate?
Overweight children eat more and exercise less because they are fat, not the other way round, and the Queensland government’s Smart Choices initiative will do nothing to change that.
Datapig: the worst places to park. Oh, and Melbourne’s a bargain
Australia boasts three of the top seven most expensive cities in the world to park your car. Lucky for Victorians, their capital is rated a mere 27 on the list.
Datapig: Banks just go on giving … less, that is
Reward points from the Big Four banks are costing us more every year, as the banks move the goalposts away as fast as we run towards them.
Datapig: low-emission meat means we’re cookin’ with gas
Some animals do a lot more burping and farting than others. Datapig David Gillespie gives the lowdown on which beasties are responsible.
Coke searching for a corporate-spinning ambassador
Coca-Cola has decided to be an environmental saviour and is looking for an “online ambassador” to help spread their new environmental community sharing messaging. David Gillespie knows just the man for the job…
Datapig: lies, damned lies and boat arrivals
Datapig David Gillespie looks at the PM’s selective take on boat people arrivals.
Datapig: the facts on boat people, graphed for your pleasure
All the facts on the numbers of people arriving in Australia by boat since 1989, graphed for your pleasure.
Fruit juice: a nutritious way to get extremely fat
A glass of apple juice is no better for you than a glass of Coke — the average soft drink is 10% sugar and so is the average juice. Drinking fruit juice is just a nutritious way to get extremely fat.
Heart attack debate not weighted in favour of the shake
Why would Nestle start spruiking a shake diet to lose weight, which has a known cause of heart disease as one of its main ingredients? Sounds like a conspiracy for getting fat people to have heart attacks.
The handy guide to dealing with consumer concern about sugar
A letter from US Big Sugar to its Australian counterpart on how to get around those pesky health warnings. The letter may or may not be fictional but witty satire.
Why fructose-laden drinks when there’s a healthy option on tap?
In the name of getting enough water, Australia’s school canteens are selling kids a drink sweetened with 21g of pure fructose. When did we become a nation requiring constant hydration, anyway?
Growing profit on the fat of the unfortunate
A new trial intending to fit 30 overweight indigenous Australians with lap-bands to lose weight is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to open up a brand new government-funded gold mine for the surgery’s creator, Allergan.
Still sweet for sugar in fat, slumbering Australia
Big Sugar in the United States is spending vast streams of cash to defend sugary drinks in the debate around soft drink and obesity — but at least they’re having a debate.
Big Sugar dresses up as Santa
Why would an industry built on getting kids hooked on sweet drinks from the age of 12 months suddenly voluntarily decide to remove the substance that makes them sweet and addictive?
Ad self-regulator says 72% sugar is a simple serve of fruit
The Advertising Standards Bureau has ruled on my complaint about Nestle’s Fruit Fix advertising. The upshot: it’s perfectly ok to advertise a product which is 72% sugar as being equivalent to one serve of fruit.
All this nagging, Nicola, isn’t making us thin
Health Minister Nicola Roxon thinks we’re too fat, smoke too much and drink too much. But don’t worry, she’s got a solution: she’s going to nag us to death instead. Even if research suggests it won’t work.
A life high in sugar is driving us mad
Next year is a red letter year for our health and social security systems — and especially for the handling of Alzheimer’s disease — as the the first of the baby boomers turn 65.
