Mayor Bloomberg’s scratched proposal to ban “big-gulp”
over-sized sodas from New York restaurants sparked predictable public objections
from the highly profitable soda industry.
Bans like this would mean the soda industry is “being demonized and
discriminated against” said Steve Cahillane, president and CEO of Coca-Cola
Company’s Refreshments unit.* Demons
aside, the soda industry has a point
There is a lot more to the obesity epidemic than the amount
of sugary soda children and adults are drinking. Although, ask any dietitian and they’ll tell
you that one of the best ways to cut calories is by switching from soda to
water. But colas were around when your great-grandparents stopped for lunch,
and there were far fewer obese Americans in the early 1900’s.
Here are some differences between their generation and ours,
all of which may be contributing to the obesity epidemic:
- 1. The amount of time the average American child or adult spent sitting in front of a TV, radio, computer, or video game vs. the amount of time they were up and moving around.
- 2. The size of the soda they were drinking, and the ratio of soda to water, milk or other beverages in their daily diets.
- 3. How many advertisements for junk food they saw or heard in a day. How many fast food restaurants they passed in a day, or week.
- 4. How far they walked in a week, and the access to safe sidewalks and roadside pathways compared to today. The use of bicycles as transportation, especially among the young.
- 5. Frequency of meals eaten at home, cooked by a parent from fresh produce , whole grains, and locally sourced meat, fish, and eggs. No matter whether they lived in a city or in a rural area.
So
you see, it wasn’t JUST the size of the drink. It was the size of every
portion, the quality of food, the family making time to cook and eat together,
the amount of non-chair time in a day, and the freedom from a constant
bombardment of junk-food marketing. The soda industry does have a point,
obesity isn’t all their fault by any
means.
But
they’re also missing the point. Huge portions of empty calories are a major contributor to obesity. The
Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine reported in 2010* that “Preload
experiments generally have found that sweet taste, whether delivered by sugar
or artificial sweeteners, enhanced human appetite.” They noted that
people’s “food reward pathways”… the things that stimulate our brains and
appetites, were only partially rewarded, leaving diet soda drinkers craving more calories and more sweet flavors.
To
cite Coca Cola Inc.’s pro-active anti-obesity measures, Cahillane told the
Associated Press "We're offering
more and more diets and lights and we're spending more and more of our money
advertising diets and lights to give people a choice to bring their calorie
count down." More money advertising
soda, that’s their contribution? Um, thanks?
Sorry
soda industry, but as a nutritional wellness ambassador I wish your “big gulp”
drinks would go away... from lack of interest! Soda, is one of the worst “red
light foods” and should be considered a when-all-else-fails (and there’s no
beer, or drinkable water) choice. Still, if Bloomberg HAD banned large soda
drinks, would New Yorkers stop getting fat and out of shape? Of course not. Plus,
it treads shaky legal ground. The silver lining is, we got people’s attention.
I hope kids were listening, because informing children of soda’s downside,
especially when this news is not just
from parents, is a great idea.
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~ images courtesy www.kickthecan.info
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