Paula Deen Sugar-Coats Reality of Diabetes

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has gone from celebrating fatty and fried foods to admitting last week she's a closet diabetic. The kicker: She's now promoting a $500-a-month diabetes drug with the slogan, "Live a life that's delicious." Feeling queasy yet? "Deen got handed a bushel of lemons and made—suddenly sugar free!—lemonade," sighs Karen Stabiner in the Los Angeles Times. So Stabiner shines a light on the medical reality behind Deen's peppy new campaign with drug company Novo Nordisk.

First, the numbers: 1 in 3 Americans will have diabetes by 2050, and Juvenile and Type 2 diabetes cost $174 billion annually. "The long view? Decidedly not 'new' or 'delicious," writes Stabiner, who also dismisses Deen's "I-eat-what-I-like-but-in-moderation campaign." Stabiner saw her own dad's diabetes "derail" him with the slightest mistake—like skipping a meal or forgetting to pack a snack. "Paula Deen is small potatoes," Stabiner concludes, but is marketing "immortality to a culture that's particularly in love with misbehaving, followed by an easy fix." (More Paula Deen stories.)