I’ll come right out and say it: I hate High Fructose Corn Syrup.

I am not obese or diabetic, and I have all my teeth. So, what’s the matter? I hate HFCS because it’s in packaged bread! Week after week in the supermarket, I read the labels of all the whole wheat and fiber-rich breads on the shelf, and every one of them lists HFCS as an ingredient. I have to go to a specialty store to get honest-to-goodness whole wheat bread that doesn’t have HFCS and won’t rip and ball up into a wad of moist dough whenever I try to smear peanut butter on it.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association just issued a science policy paper on high fructose corn syrup that summarized findings from a number of sources. One could guess that the effort comes in response the news earlier this year that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not consider the sweetener a natural ingredient based on its current policy regarding the term “natural.”

One contribution is from a scientific review panel convened by the University of Maryland. Experts there conducted a review of available literature, added some original analysis, and concluded that “HFCS does not appear to contribute to overweight and obesity any different than any other energy sources.”

In other words, HFCS is not, in and of itself, creating fat Americans. The GMA report noted that the key to addressing obesity health problems is to “continue to emphasize that consumers should burn more calories through physical activity, than they consume from the foods and beverages they eat.”

No argument there, but there’s one line of questioning the report neglected to follow: CPG companies are the biggest, most consistent users of HFCS on the planet. It’s cheap, plentiful and makes manufacturing foods a lot easier. And so, it goes into more and more products, and the American palette adjusts to higher levels of sweetness… until we get to the point where we don’t mind it in our bread.

Sure, we need to take responsibility for our diets and eat the right foods, in the proper amounts, as suggested by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. But until this substance is highlighted and pointed out on packaging, American consumers can’t take all the blame.

What will the economy do to organic sales? That’s a question I’ve been seeing a lot lately. According to recent data from Nielsen, the answer so far is: Not much. Organic dairy sales over the past year are up 20%, organic dry grocery sales are up by 29%, and organic produce has seen a 27% increase.

The economy’s downward spiral has yet to hit bottom, it seems, so there’s no telling where things will end up. That’s why health and wellness managers need to focus on more than just organics if they want to weather the hard times still to come.

Luckily, the opportunities are abundant. The market for local products, for example, is looking better and better these days. A just-released study from Ohio State University shows that the average consumer is willing to pay more for locally produced food than the conventional alternative. Retail shoppers will pay $0.48 more for a $3 quart of local strawberries, while those who frequent farmers markets will pay an additional $0.92, researchers found. Asked to choose between berries from “Fred’s” and “Berries Inc.” (both fictional companies), retail shoppers said they would pay $0.17 more for Fred’s, the smaller operation.

There’s also an ever-increasing market for special-needs diets. Packaged Facts projects that products related to food allergies and intolerances will reach $3.9 billion in sales this year. Nationally, there are around 12 million people with food allergies and 2 million with celiac disease. For reasons the medical community isn’t quite sure of, these numbers are growing.

Retailers also shouldn’t forget about natural and other middle-ground selections, which appeal to consumers who might eat with health and ethics in mind, but don’t want to pay the premium price.

The food industry knows better than to just sit back and cross its fingers, of course. All the talk right now is about consumers trading down, making fewer shopping trips, and making health and wellness less of a priority. It’s easy to lose confidence in the healthful side of the business.

Retailers: Don’t buy into it. The game plan may have changed, but people’s desire to live smart and eat smart hasn’t.

Have sales of maple syrup been on the high side? Running out of Red Bull? Reordering eggs more often? If you answered yes to any of those questions, chances are at least some of your customers are on one of those celebrity diets that pop up in magazines, or on the internet and television.

I mention this because it might be worthwhile to have the company dietitian or someone involved in health and wellness to keep track of these faddish trends. For instance, one of the current hot diets is the Red Bull Diet, attributed to Paris Hilton (I guess she was between treatments when she was photographed quaffing this bottle of Coke).

To make media monitoring easier, a weight management company called Medifast has formed www.skinnymyths.com, a website devoted to exposing fad programs, most of which are tied to a particular celebrity. Here are the Top 10 diets (and their celebrity representatives) that made the website’s “Celebu-Diet Myth-o-Meter” for May:

1. Red Bull Diet (Paris Hilton)

2. Protein Separation Diet (Maria Carey)

3. Coffee Boost Diet (Olsen Twins)

4. British Facial Analysis Diet (Kate Winslet)

5. Adderall Diet (Britney Spears)

6. White Food Diet (John Cusack)

7. Martha’s Vineyard Detox (Robin Quivers)

8. Boiled Egg Diet (Renee Zellweger)

9. Tea Diet (Rachel Ray)

10. Master Cleanse Diet (Beyonce Knowles)

All kidding aside, it’s helpful to remember that we live in an age in which everyone yearns for convenience and a quick fix. One look at the svelte stars in the magazines and it’s easy to understand why these diets are so appealing. What people don’t realize is these stars have much more than a diet at their disposal. They have personal trainers, plastic surgeons and agents who can just tell everyone their star’s weight gain is part of some research for a new role.

Many of these diets get debunked fairly quickly, but that doesn’t stop everyone from trying them. Some plans, if not most, are down right ludicrous; a few can be dangerous if taken to the extreme. It would be great if supermarkets could somehow mention these diets in talking to shoppers. It would be one more reason for consumers to trust their local retailer over what’s in the centerfold of this week’s Hollywood weekly.

Many people love the taste of artificially sweetened drinks, guzzling down ten Diet Cokes a day. For others, it’s too much of a compromise. Sure, the calorie count is microscopic, and there’s even that hint of indulgence. But there’s also aspartame, saccharin and other clinical-sounding sweeteners that can’t completely win over their taste buds.

This compromise may soon be over, courtesy of a centuries-old South American herb. Stevia, or Sweet Leaf, is said to be 300 times as sweet as conventional sugar and with a fraction of the calories. It’s gaining momentum throughout the world, and manufacturers in America are definitely interested: Last year, Coca Cola and Cargill developed their own stevia-derived sweetener, which they’ve called Rebiana.

There’s a catch, however. The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t cleared stevia to be sold anywhere beyond the dietary supplement aisle. Companies have pushed hard to change this, and as foodnavigator.com reported yesterday, the country’s largest supplier of stevia, Wisdom Natural Brands, has decided to bestow the GRAS status on its own. That means tabletop stevia sweeteners could be on shelves within weeks. If the FDA decides to crack the whip, however, that could bode poorly for Wisdom and affiliated retailers. Coke and Cargill, meanwhile, are offering their sweetener in countries that have already ok’d stevia, like Japan and Brazil.

If stevia does get the FDA’s blessing, there may be no stopping it. Indeed, even the sweetener’s main Achilles’ heel — a licorice-like aftertaste — is being tweaked by food scientists. All of this could turn into great news for retailers, who have enjoyed ever-increasing sales of healthy beverages. As always, though, they need to take care not to get ahead of good science and regulation.

Doing that might truly leave a bad taste in their mouths.

The entire sustainability movement will receive its greatest validation to date with the debut of Planet Green, the new Discovery network launching this Wednesday at 6 p.m. EDT.

This isn’t a weekly series, like “The Green,” on the Sundance Channel, or “Living with Ed” (as in actor and activist Ed Begley) on HGTV. This is an entire channel devoted to green living (and eating and shopping and whatever else you need to fill up a 24-hour schedule). Look for celebrities like Adrian Grenier of “Entourage” fame, and newsman Tom Brokaw. Singer Tommy Lee gets a chance to promote himself as a Green Channel “ecomaniac.” Emeril Lagasse will have “Emeril Green,” a new series airing in July.

And it doesn’t get any more mainstream than Tom Bergeron, who, in between his stints on “Dancing With the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” manages to host green dinner parties where the food is prepared by celebrity chefs and eaten by celebrity guests. Eat Tom, eat! Too much hosting, too much talking!

Planet Green isn’t exactly new. It’s replacing the Discovery Home Channel, according to execs. The idea took shape after the Discovery Channel aired its “Planet Earth” series (which touched on many of the issues featured on the new channel). Viewers wrote and called requesting more programming, and they’ll get it: Series include “Greenovate,” in which homeowners make eco-improvements to their dwellings; “Greensburg,” a profile of the town in Kansas demolished last May by an F5 tornado, as it rebuilds with an emphasis on sustainability; and “Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos,” which is pretty self-explanatory.

Acknowledging our growing interest in ecology and the environment by creating an entire television channel is pure American ingenuity at work. Think of it: Education can be pretty boring. But spice it up with some entertainment and — BAM! — you have viewers’ attention and advertisers knocking on the door. This is likely going to help supermarket sales in the cleaner and detergent aisles, in HBC and other nonfood areas of the store where health and wellness have been slow to grow. The people watching the Green Channel are going to be everyday channel surfers — and everyday shoppers.

At any rate, it’s no longer enough to be “on” the air. The Green Channel is going to help show us what’s in it, and hopefully, how to improve it.