Strollerderby : soda

NY Proposes Taxing Non-Diet Soda

Miriam Axel-Lute — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

OK Gov. Paterson: I know you've got a wicked budget hole, and we all have to "share the pain." I also know that this country has a severe health crisis with escalating rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. and that soda and related sugar-water drinks (or, more specifically, high-fructose-corn-syrup drinks) are bad for us and our kids.

But can we work through a few of the logical problems with your proposed "obesity tax" here?

1. It only applies to "nondiet" sodas (and fake juice drinks), thereby giving the implicit healthy stamp of approval to "diet" drinks full of artificial sweeteners, which cause many people a wide range of health problems, from dizziness to migraines, while to others they just taste gross. They also interfere with efforts to adjust to a healthier, lower-sugar diet. Not to mention that carbonated diet sodas still are acidic enough to eat away at kids teeth and still don't hydrate like water or provide nutrients like milk. Remember also that soda—diet and nondiet—is also a major source of people's caffeine fixes (and young kids having caffeine worries me more than their having sugar, frankly).

Basically, this just shows the folly of trying to decide on high what's healthy for people: it varies. I have some extremely health-conscious friends whose son is super allergic to tons of things—so right now he's eating a lot of Fritos (all corn, no cross-contamination). If you tried to tax "junk food," for example, you'd be hitting them hard.

2. Like any sales tax, this going to fall most heavily on the poor, who buy a lot of soda often because it's what's sold at the corner store. Study after study has shown that living in a "food desert" is a primary cause of unhealthy eating choices. Without changing that, adding a tax is like raising the gas tax without investing in public transportaiton. (If the tax is high enough to make bodega owners stock healthier drinks instead, we might see some benefit, but I'm skeptical.)

3. Recent studies have shown that it's possible to be both fat and fit. You say you don't want to make kids feel bad for being overweight. So don't. Instead encourage the good stuff, which is what will really make the difference: access to healthy food and drink, enough sleep, and exercise (recess! later school start times! healthy foods in schools! walking and biking to school!). I know that won't balance the budget. I'm sorry.

Photo by Qfamily.

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New Coke: The New Birth Control?

JeanneSager — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:51:00 GMT

High school seniors everywhere are counting on too much Mountain Dew to help them practice safe sex. Who knew they'd be better off with Diet Coke?

Turns out doin' the Dew isn't going to destroy his sperm count (you'll just have to trust me on this one . . . she's running around the living room right now). But a 23-year-old study by researchers at Boston University's School of Medicine that found Coca-Cola has the makings of a good spermicide resurfaced this week to win an Ig Nobel Award - the prize handed out by Harvard University for "research that makes people laugh and then think."

The study, published in the 1985 New England Journal of Medicine, found Diet Coke was the best beverage to pour on your lower parts to kill off little swimmers. Brings a whole new meaning to bringing a little bubbly to bed to celebrate your consumation. It also sounds messy . . . and more than a little kinky.

But before you try it, you might want to read up on the other Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize Winner this year: a group of Taiwanese scientists who found sperm retained up to 70 percent mobility despite the extra fizz in the bedroom.

Image: ABC News

La. Legislator Says: Let's Pay the Poor to Stop Making Babies

Mom Finds New Use For Sippy Cup: Beer Holder

Which Came First -- The Salt or the Corn Syrup?

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:32:00 GMT

The human body can't function without a little bit of the old NaCl. But most human bodies also have a huge -- and growing ever huger -- problem with moderation. If a little is good, then a whole lot must be better.

Which is how kids get themselves into so many odd predicaments. They haven't completely learned that more is frequently just more. Too much salt, in addition to playing hell with your blood pressure, also makes you really thirsty. When most kids get thirsty, they reach for a sugar-laden soda the size of a smallish old tanker.

Researchers are suggesting that there might be a connection between the ingestion of sodium-rich processed foods and the resulting gulping down of cola products might just have something to do with why kids are so fat.

I'd get up to yell about how wrong they are, but I can't force myself out of my couch.

Photo credit: whatscookingamerica.net

Pour Some Sugar on Me: Soda Makers Pull a Fast One

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:06:00 GMT

Under pressure from parents and schools, Coke and Pepsi and Schweppes agreed to pull their sugar laden soda from schools last year and replace them with 100% juice, low-fat milk, and water.

For this, the companies were lauded.... but far far too soon it seems...

The companies have since regrouped, tweaked their agreement, and come out quite justified in now adding sports drinks, vitamin water, and other sugar-laden nectar for your (soon-to-be-chubby) little hummingbird to drink while at school.

I don't blame the big guys for trying to make a dime, but can't you leave the poor, tired, fat kids alone? Just this once?

One Soda a Day Could Get You a Cardiologist

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:04:00 GMT

Put down that Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, people. A new study shows that even one soda a day -- including both diet and regular varieties -- could boost your risk for heart disease by about 50%. Although just a pop a day may have previously been seen as a moderate habit, it could up your chances for developing metabolic syndrome which could lead to heart disease and diabetes.

What isn't a surprise is that the food and beverage industry is disputing the findings. Regardless, this recent warning only adds to mounting evidence against sugary soft drink consumption. The senior author of the study says increased soda drinking is linked to health epidemics such as obesity, high blood pressure and (this will make you cringe) diabetes in children in teens.

The findings of this study are both fascinating and disturbing. While it may not call on you to quit the Mountain Dew or even the Diet Mountain Dew for good, it may be enough motivation to cut back. And the big gulp (not Big Gulp, come on) is what this could mean for all those kids pulling pop out of a Happy Meal box or the fridge.

Surprise! Soda-Drinking Kids Are Fatter

Karen Murphy — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:49:00 GMT

Yep, I know this is going to come s a surprise to you, but guess what? That's right, preschoolers who drink sugary drinks like sodas and fruit drinks (as opposed to 100% juice, which seems okay) are fatter than kids who don't. Earth-shattering! I know! Yet another Canadian study looked at kids ages 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 and found that the kids who consumed 4-6 sugary drinks per week were more than twice as likely to be overweight by age 4.5.

What I want to know is, how do you get a two-year-old to even drink sodas? The crappy fruit drinks I can understand, but my kids won't touch anything with bubbles in it (so all the champagne is for me, sorry kids). I guess they don't like the feeling on their tongues. And it's not an issue because I don't keep it in the house anyway, but I know tons of kids do drink it. Which is a bummer. 'Cause now they're fatter than they need to be.

How 'Bout a Refreshing, Nutritious...Soda?

Patti — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:45:00 GMT

This is how dumb corporate America thinks you are: following in the footsteps of fast food chains who lately have emphasized healthier offerings alongside their classic heart-attacks-in-a-clamshell-box menu options, soft drink manufacturers Coca Cola and Pepsi are launching vitamin-enriched, sugar-free sodas to a public eager to appear health conscious. With sales of soft drinks sliding downward and even diet soft drink sales growing stagnant, the sodapop giants are betting they can win a few of us back by promoting their sugarless drinks as "health and wellness" beverages. Because nothing says healthy like an icy cold cup of artificial coloring and chemical sweeteners, right?

Are we that dumb? Maybe. But 7Up's fortified "Plus" brand extension hasn't been that successful, while sales of bottled water and juice and tea drinks have steadily increased. On the other hand, some recent diet soda launches have done well, and the soft drink industry is busily trying to find a natural sweetener to replace the chemicals that many consumers object to in hopes of regaining full dominance.

The scariest possible outcome is that people might really believe that a soft drink--oh, I'm sorry, they'd like me to pretend these are "sparkling beverages"--that a soft drink with added nutrients is a better bet than a glass of water without. I foresee a lot of kids toting bottles of Coke Plus or Pepsi Tava around the playground, and having to constantly explain to my kids why soda's just a treat in our house (and why we usually buy the boring kind with real cane sugar).

(via MomSquawk)