Sugar

The party animals of Europe made festive, elaborate centerpieces from food from medieval times through the 18th century. Among the most notable of their table art traditions is the sugar monument.

We think of tea as healthful, but from Morocco to Taiwan to the American South versions of it have become so sugar-laden that a regular tea habit might be just as unhealthful as a soda habit.

In 19th century Britain, keeping sugar out of tea became a political statement against slavery. The sugar boycott was no easy choice for the radical poet, who hated slavery but loved tea.

Though it never panned out, the sugar industry backed research to develop a vaccine to fight tooth decay, old industry documents reveal. Researchers say the goal was to deflect efforts to limit sugar.

A dentist unearths documents detailing the sugar industry's influence over the National Institutes of Health's research agenda in the 1960s and 1970s. At issue: setting limits for sugar intake.

WHO says there's strong evidence that excessive sugar is bad for us. So it's recommending that we cut back significantly.

SugarScience, a website created by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, distills the findings of 8,000 scientific studies on the health effects of sugar. The takeaway? Eat less.

Many cities and states have tried, but Berkeley, Calif., is the first to pass a penny-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. The goal is to reduce sugar consumption to improve public health.