Health Education: soda

The additive effect of SUGAR - or SSBs

I only have four or five items set aside for tomorrow's Odds and Ends post, so I checked out some trusted websites in search of something easy to post tonight (to conserve my brain). I went to the <a href="http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/" target="_blank">RUDD Center for Food Policy and Obesity   </a>where I emailed someone to find out what they heck is going on with the FDA final rule on menu and vending labeling, and then I ventured over to a website in LA County, CA.   The LA cite has a sugar sweetened beverage calculator.   Here you enter the number of drinks of each type that you consume and it calculates several different measures.  For instance, the packets and pounds of sugar you consume in a week, month and year and how much you might be spending on these beverages.   I do not drink SSBs (I even make my sports drink with a sugar substitute)- so I made believe I was someone else.  Startling results! BTW - I do eat sugary snacks (real sugar) but I only have about one a day. Oh I almost forgot - here is the website and <a href="http://www.choosehealthla.com/multimedia/sugar-calculator/" target="_blank">calculator</a> where LA County suggests that you ChooseHealth.  AMEN.

The additive effect of SUGAR - or SSBs

I only have four or five items set aside for tomorrow's Odds and Ends post, so I checked out some trusted websites in search of somethin...

5:54 PM

If you can't tax it - ban it

I am thrilled to attach the current newsletter from the Harvard School of Public Health.  It announces a policy change for the city of Boston.  All new beverage contracts, for city owned properties, will include only low calorie beverages and NO SODA or sugar sweetened beverages (SSB)i.e sports drinks .  Diet soda will be allowed, but there is a limit on the proportion of diet soda to non diet drinks per total vending machine, or canteen menu.  If you click on one of the side links, you will see the report on diet drinks. In short, they are not considered the best alternative, but perhaps a step down from full sugar to no sugar beverages.  In that article,  some research is cited that indicates that having the sweetness without the calories confuses the brain.  The signals for satiety do not get sent and people over consume.  I drink a diet soda every day with a small snack and I am the least overweight person I know.  [this may be related to the fact that I am not drinking the soda to trick myself into thinking that I ate, but because I enjoy the taste. Also, I am consuming a low calorie snack at the same time - so I feel full AND have calories]  Another research example they gave involved rats.  I am just thinking - rat studies - for calorie consumption - do not make a lot of sense because rats do not eat for all the reasons that people eat.  Much of our eating has to do with social pressure, happiness, sadness, etc - where as, I assume rats eat because they are hungry. So back to the BAN.  Boston is also going to utilize my favorite Go Slow Whoa labeling  - Green means go -  water would be green, fruit juice (100% and small serving) would be yellow, and soda or whole milk would be red.  OK truth is that I did not open their traffic light guide, but I think I know this stuff well enough to guess correctly.  But that reminds me, though they will allow fruit juice, the serving size cannot be more than 8 ounces.  They are allowing low fat/no fat milk too - but again, in limited sizes. I am so excited about this initiative that I emailed one of my professors to see how I could make something like this happen on my campus :)  I told him I would dedicate my summer to it.  I will keep you posted. I also emailed it to the obesity coalition of which I am a part - perhaps we could influence my city :) You are more than welcome to pass it on yourselves. <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/boston-soda-ban/index.html"> Here</a> it is.  (I still think taxing or price differentials are good strategies too)  In this article, my hero, Walter Willett (MD) equates soda consumption with the greatest single cause of our obesity epidemic.  It was said that many people consume 200 calories a day in soda or SSB - well the average person.  That is only about one soda a day - I know many who drink several cans/bottles a day.

If you can't tax it - ban it

I am thrilled to attach the current newsletter from the Harvard School of Public Health. It announces a policy change for the city of Bosto...

7:22 PM

EBT Cards and Soda

The big debate these days is whether or not NYC has the right to prevent people from buying soda or any other food or beverage with their food stamps. (In case you didn't know, most states do not actually use stamps anymore. People who receive this needs based stipend actually get an electronic benefit transfer card - or EBT) The problem with soda and the attempts to do something about it policy wise have been discussed in past posts. One notes a <a href="http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2010/01/aba-soda-strategy.html">PSA </a>from NYC and another is in regard to the NYC Health Commissioners attempt to<a href="http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2009/09/soda.html"> raise </a>the tax on soda. This same health commissioner is working with Mayor Bloomberg in the current soda initiative. The USDA has to approve restrictions on food stamp purchases. Some people are concerned that this might set a precedent but I am hopeful that it will! I knew that people on foods stamps could not buy non food items, or alcohol or tobacco, but I hadn't realized that there are NO nutrition restrictions. Many popular press articles are discussing this NYC proposal so I won't rehash them here. I will say that Bloomberg and Farley are wise to suggest that this is a temporary intervention that can be evaluated and revisited in the future. When I read that the that 75 to 135 million dollars was spent (in NYC from EBT) on sugary drinks in one year, I realized that we could track all items purchased with these cards and THAT is some data I would like to get my "teeth" into :) BTW - this was also discussed on <a href="http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=3&islist=true&id=5&d=10-08-2010">Science Friday </a>today and my public health hero, Walter Willett was a guest :) We must thank Lee Ann for the call that got me away from my studies to turn on the radio - kisses....

EBT Cards and Soda

The big debate these days is whether or not NYC has the right to prevent people from buying soda or any other food or beverage with their fo...

4:03 PM

Big Soda

Seriously - I was stunned. It was break time during one of my classes and I noticed a sign in the lobby area of the 4th floor of the Science Building. The plaque said, Mountain Dew Lounge. I pointed this out to one of my peers and then another told me that all the floors have a "soda" named lobby. So I am pretty sure that it would be safe to say that Pepsi helped pay for the building. Now I do drink a diet Mountain Dew just about every other day (a diet coke on the others) but I consider it one of the less healthy things that I do. Soda probably isn't good for you even without sugar. I think it is shameful to have soda themed rooms, but at least it wasn't one of the Public Health or Nutrition buildings. And this is NC - so yes Pepsi rules the south - but what you usually see are buildings and rooms named after RJReynolds or their cigarette brands.

Big Soda

Seriously - I was stunned. It was break time during one of my classes and I noticed a sign in the lobby area of the 4th floor of the Scien...

5:12 PM

ABA - Soda Strategy

Very busy day today - no time to study or track things down, but alas, a little news story from this morning gives me points to pontificate A public service announcement that is being broadcast on You Tube is grossing some people out. The PSA is meant to discourage people from drinking soda. The video is being used in New York which is usually on the cutting edge with these types of things. They were aggressive about smoking bans, getting TFAs out of foods, ordering calorie content charts and now - confronting the beverage industry. Much of what happens in NY trickles down, so I am optimistic. The video shows a kid drinking a soda and gobs of wet sugar run out of his mouth and down his face. I can't remember the important health message that followed - something like soda or sugar makes you fat. The American Beverage Association, a trade group for soda makers, is upset about this commercial. They say that it is true that sugary beverages are not without disadvantages, but that they also offer low and no calorie choices. They propose a less offensive means of suggesting people limit their intake of soda. Then they point out that ALL of their products are fat free. Yup, that is the part that got me. Hello? Not having fat doesn't change a thing. And comparing sugar to fat is ridiculous. There is no "good sugar bad sugar" debate, it is ALL bad sugar. We have healthy promoting, in fact, life sustaining, good fats, but there is no amount of sugar that the body needs. [not referring to that which occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables].

ABA - Soda Strategy

Very busy day today - no time to study or track things down, but alas, a little news story from this morning gives me points to pontificate...

5:39 PM

Health Education

The additive effect of SUGAR - or SSBs

If you can't tax it - ban it

EBT Cards and Soda

Big Soda

ABA - Soda Strategy

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