'Tis the season of scary stories and urban legends.

Have you checked the children?

Aren't you glad you didn't turn off the light?

Remember those urban legends from your youth?  We all know what the storyteller - perhaps your older brother, babysitter or parents - was trying to do: scare you!  And it worked.  Because you did not yet have the knowledge and life experience to tell you that what you were hearing was an urban legend, a "story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true."

In our industry, we see the power of the "urban myth" in much of what we do.  One such myth  comes to us this week from the U.K., where researchers claimed that taxes will solve the obesity crisis.  The fact is, there is no evidence that soda taxes will have any significant impact on obesity, and one study showed just the opposite.  The study, conducted by an economist at the Yale School of Public Health, found that “…any obesity-related benefit of decreased soda consumption that comes from a soda tax is, on average, more than offset by increased caloric consumption from other beverages.”

With all those urban myths out there, it's important to be an educated consumer.  We're making it easier for you with resources like LetsClearItUp.org, a website dedicated to providing fact-based information about our industry's products and their ingredients.  So check it out, and do your part to dispel the myths!