This article came to my attention a few weeks ago via Penny at My Son Has Diabetes . I thought it was melodramatic in the extreme and felt it needed a response. Here's what I said:

Everything in moderation - Aristotle. I find that's a good philosophy when it comes to Halloween candy.

Your melodramatic column screams about the massive rate of diabetes among adults and children. Yet what you fail to note is that the majority of children with diabetes have TYPE 1 diabetes, a vastly different disease than Type 2.

Type 1 diabetes is not caused by eating too much sugar or by being overweight. Scientists and doctors aren't quite sure what causes it, but when children (babies, really) are being diagnosed as young as 6 months old, I think it's safe to say it's not because they were fed candy and junk food.

Your assertion that everyone who is overweight is also diabetic is also false. There are plenty of slender people out there who have type 2. Being overweight and leading a sedentary lifestyle don't help matters, but you need to have the genetic predisposition to diabetes first.

Columns like yours, that scream "Fat = Diabetes" are gross misinformation. A short Google search would have led you to the ADA, JDRF or the Children With Diabetes website. Any of those sites would have told you the difference between, and the causes of, both diseases.

Columns like yours are the reason I have to explain, over and over again, that no, my daughter does not have diabetes because she drank too much soda/eat too much candy/lazed around the house. Her pancreas failed. It doesn't make insulin any more. She will not outgrow it and will need to be on insulin for the rest of her life.

Yell about the additives and corn syrup and artificial colourings in foods all you like. I'll happily yell along. But when you start yelling about diabetes, do some research and differentiate between the two. Those of us who have children who suffer from type 1 diabetes will thank you. Until then, expect more comments like this.

Of course, I never got a response. People who write like this, dogmatically and without doing any research what so ever, generally don't like to be told that they are wrong. But I'll continue to do it because stuff like this makes my blood boil and it's the only tool I have to answer these idiots. And it's easier on the bod than beating my head against a wall.