Sweet and sour times in Junkies show

WE all know we eat too much sugar and that it's bad for our health, but we seem unable to stop ourselves. The facts and figures support the case for not being as sweet as we were. They've been there for years but the multi-million dollar sugar industry has a vested interest in keeping us all sweet, even if it does kill us.

This programme couldn't resist deviating from the investigative path to remind us about the Milky Bar Kid, how sex was used to sell Cadbury's Flake and feature an ice cream eating competition. There was TV cook Antony Worrall Thompson being tested for the sugar-related Syndrome X. He admitted to smoking, being overweight and not exercising, so there was never much doubt he would have it - and he was told to stop smoking, eat better and do more exercise.

By the early 1950s, US research showed that sugar was one of the main culprits in bringing about premature deaths. Americans were eating three pounds of sugar a week in "an orgy of sweetness". The sugar industry fought the recommended 40 per cut in consumption, and even today resists attempts to educate people to eat less sugar.

The situation is much the same in this country. A report suggesting we cut down on sugar by half was delayed for two years, and never became government policy after civil servants were lunched and lobbied by the sugar men.

Some take extraordinary measures to try to cut down. Sugar policemen operate in parts of the US, part of efforts by counsellors to get people "clean" of sugar. These cops raid the homes of clients, searching fridges for sugary products and removing them.

We were reminded how Esther Rantzen did much the same thing on her That's Life TV show, campaigning against sweet and sugary drinks that promoted themselves as healthy and kind to teeth.

Even the redoubtable Rantzen would have been hard-pressed to stop villagers in Mexico who use cola in religious ceremonies. They believe people expel demons when they burp after drinking the fizzy drink.