Packaged goods companies can expect a reduction of anywhere from 13% to 31% in earnings by 2013, and from 19% to 47% in 2018, if adequate sustainability measures are not taken, according to A.T. Kearney in a report wrapped within the catchy title, "Rattling Supply Chains: The Effect of Environmental Trends on Input Costs to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry." Assuming commodity costs hit an all-time high, "half of current profits will be erased" if companies continue standing by a "business-as-usual" approach, says Daniel Mahler, partner and global leader for sustainability practice at Kearney's New York office. Companies …

Before he earned his eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps and three teammates agreed to endorse PureSport, a protein mix made by a tiny Austin, Texas, company, for a 5% stake in the company. The drink mix, initially sold through specialty shops, recently won shelf space at the 400-store Sports Authority. "Phelps was the clincher," says Terry Gilmore, an oil, gas and real estate investor who put up nearly $5 million in January to launch the company that markets the protein and carbohydrate-filled cocktail. PureSport can't afford national television commercials or print campaigns, so Phelps has …

The Free Press also has an excellent rollover map breaking down the number of automotive jobs -- direct and indirect -- across the country.

No surprise here. Ads from BBDO Dusseldorf that show "a cute but sad little personification of a calorie committing suicide in a few ultraviolent ways" have generated controversy online, Matthew Creamer reports. No response from Pepsi yet.

Whole Foods Markets has added four new members to its board of directors, bringing the size of the board to 10. Among them are Stephanie Kugelman, vice chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam and chairman of A Second Opinion strategic consulting group.

Great hed and subhed on the Forbes story about an anticlimactic announcement yesterday by the National Bureau of Economic Research: "Congratulations, It's A Recession," followed by "Economists give birth to a 1-year-old downturn." Joshua Zumbun's story points out that the icebreaker at water coolers and supermarket lines now becomes: "Are we in a recovery" yet? No. Unfortunately, literally, many consumer-driven sectors of the economy are still catching up with the bad news and making it even worse. But that could also be construed as good news for bargain hunters. Take real estate. A

It appears that one way to forget about the troubled times we're in is to gouge on junk food. A diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol could lead to similar changes in substances in the brain which are also seen in the development of Alzheimer's, according to a new study published in a doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. Research for the study was conducted on rats, Sarah Hills reports, and it carries the caveat that more study is necessary "before proper advice can be passed on to the general public."

A preliminary autopsy report released yesterday shows that the temporary employee who was the victim of a shoppers' stampede in a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday died of asphyxiation. Nassau County police released the findings at a news conference in which they also defended themselves from criticism, Newsday's Laura Rivera and Alphonso A. Castillo report. "The flaw here really comes down to the planning and organization of the sales event," according to Lawrence Mulvey, the Nassau police commissioner. A personal-injury attorney retained by the victim's three sisters says Wal-Mart didn't have enough security guards at the store and …