Posted on 03/17/2010 12:32:18 PM PDT by presidio9
Is soda the new tobacco?
In their critics eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isnt harmful, nor is it addictive.
The problem is that at roughly 50 gallons per person per year, our consumption of soda, not to mention other sugar-sweetened beverages, is far from moderate, and appears to be an important factor in the rise in childhood obesity. This increase is at least partly responsible for a rise in what can no longer be called adult onset diabetes because more and more children are now developing it.
Attention is being paid: Last week, the Obama administration announced a plan to ban candy and sweetened beverages from schools. A campaign against childhood obesity will be led by the first lady, Michelle Obama. And a growing number of public health advocates are pushing for even more aggressive actions, urging that soda be treated like tobacco: with taxes, warning labels and a massive public health marketing campaign, all to discourage consumption.
A tax on soda was one option considered to help pay for health care reform (the Joint Committee on Taxation calculated that a 3-cent tax on each 12-ounce sugared soda would raise $51.6 billion over a decade), and President Obama told Mens Health magazine last fall that such a tax is an idea that we should be exploring. Theres no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda.
But with all the junk food and U.F.O.s (unidentifiable food-like objects) out there, why soda? Why a tax? And, most important, would it work?
To the beverage industry,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
HAHAHA! Oh, that's rich coming from one FR's vocal supporters of the War on Drugs.
Or will this merely result in diet soda replacing conventional soda, since Splenda and aspertame both exist and are already sold in volume?
Or maybe one gets a black market of product labeled “diet” that actually has sugar in it.
I agree that soda isn’t health food. You’ve never been a fan, so your arguments against it are irrelevant to this thread. However, since you brought it up, the fact that it can be used for household purposes outside the body is, at best neutral. So can thousands of other food products like lemons, vinegar, and vodka. When it enters our mouths, amalase in the syliva breaks down the sugars, as do small quantities of acids. I once had a HS science teacher who left a human tooth in a bottle of soda for effect. Of course that’s not what happens in real life. The citric acid in soft drinks (the same found in lemons) is nowhere near as strong as the hydrocholoric acid in the stomach, which has a ph of 0. If you know anything about acid, you know that the solution becomes weaker when you add, more of a higher ph. The “soda rots your stomach” thing is an old wives tale, probably made popular by people who already had ulcers.
Um, I don't care what you think or do. But thanks for the update all the same. The point is that what I think or do (or drink) isn't supposed to be anybody's business but mine.
“The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isnt harmful, nor is it addictive.”
Is that actually completely true? Caffiene is contained in many sodas (in the US - in Canada it is restricted by law to Colas) and caffiene is generally considered to be a mildy addictive and habit forming substance, is it not? I mean, there’s a good reason that so many people are a mess without their morning (non-decaffinated) coffee, right?
soft drinks are nothing more than sugared water with a drop of flavoring and/or coloring added, not exactly what I would call a toxic concoction.
You can make your own with a glass of water, a little sugar, a drop or two of vanilla = Cream Soda.
If you've never had your thyroid checked, you probably should make an apointment to do so. Like today.
You forgot salt.
Demolition Man coming to life.
Your feelings, based on nothing, vs. the research and peer review of some of the nation's top scientists and other experts in the field. I just don't know whom to trust....LOL!
You've never been able to explain how glucose and fructose from HFCS is different from glucose and fructose from hydrolyzed sucrose. Can you do it now?
doc has checked it a couple times, says its normal.
Anybody checked where the money from Coke & PepsiCo have been going lately? Maybe they are starting to send a few bucks towards Republican candidates, therefore the Nazis are retaliating with taxes.
The article doesn’t make a distinction between sugar (sucrose) and HFCS. HFCS is the problem, not the sugar, and I’d like to see sugar back in soda, and HFCS out.
From what I understand, you’re right about the enzymes. Apparently enzymes are released by the body to break down the sucrose into fructose and glucose. The enzymes aren’t a part of the conversion of HFCS.
Plus, HFCS is not even cheaper if you take away all our tax money going to support it.
Sucrose is broken down by certain enzymes, HFCS isn’t. The actions of the enzymes is what matters in this case.
That’s the part that bugs me, we’re paying for something that’s crap and makes us sick.
Oooooo! 50 gallons a year! That sounds like a lot! Until you multiply 50 gallons by 128 ounces/gallon and get 6400 ounces. Divided by 365 days gives you 17.5 ounces per day. A can and a half or less than one 20-ounce bottle a day sounds a lot more "moderate" to me.
They should have made it really scary: 8.35 pounds in a gallon (of water, but close enough). 75 years average life expectancy. 31,312.5 pounds. Oh my gosh! The average person drinks over 15 and 1/2 TONS of cola in their lifetime. We need to tax it!
Or maybe, if we are really, really lucky, sucrose (C12H22O11) will be classified by the DEA as a Schedule 1 controlled substance so they can kick your door in and shoot your dogs in the middle of the night if some diabetic drug addict at the jail claims he bought some from you!
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