Soda vending machines, a thing of the past?

This move is a good one from the standpoint of the “war on soda.” Governments are coming to realize that soda, when consumed excessively, are along the lines of cigarettes in that they are very unhealthy and lead to a shortened lifespan and decreased standard of living.

We applaud San Francisco’s ban on regular soda and restrictions on diet soda and hope to see other municipalities follow suit.

Read more: Sugary-drink ban starts to affect S.F. sites

Researchers studied over 59,000 Danish pregnant women from 1996 to 2002. The women were evaluated during their pregnancy via a written exam, one of the questions gauging their diet soda intake. The expectant mothers who consumed at least one diet soft drink per day were found to have an increased likelihood, 38% more likely, of pre-term birth than the non-diet soda drinking mothers. If they drank four or more drinks per day they were 78% more likely. Those are some pretty scary numbers.

The study was authored by Halldorsson TI, Strøm M, Petersen SB and Olsen SF and is titled Intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks and preterm delivery: a prospective cohort study of 59,334 Danish pregnant women. It was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2010.

Read more: Midwives Magazine

We’ve covered Soda taxes before, but Philadelphia’s recently proposed sweetened drink tax puts it at the forefront of the ‘tax soda’ movement. Mayor Nutter is proposing a 2-cent per oz tax on sweetened beverages. For example a 20-oz bottle of soda would be 40 cents more and a 2-liter bottle would be $1.35 additional.

I am all for taxing unhealthy foods to help subsidize healthcare. But this appears to be a tax meant to help with the actual running of the city budget. What is to stop them from taxing any other type of food? What about a tax for every gram of fat content in a food source?

Although I am not completely against a soda/sugar tax, this does strike me as the wrong way to go about it. If this passes, expect similar ordinances to pass in other major metropolitan areas.

• 24% of California adults drink at least one soda or other sweetened beverage each day
• 41% of children between ages 2 and 11 drink at least a soda a day
• 62% of teens drink at least a soda a day
• 13% of 12-to-17-year-olds drink three or more sodas on a daily basis

These stats, from a 2005 California Health Interview Survey, show that soda consumption is widespread in the state. The survey finally found that adults who drink soda or sugary drinks daily are 27% more likely to be overweight.

(credit LA Times “Booster Shots” blog, Photo courtesy of ab4dd0n)

Obama has made some comments about a soda tax in an upcoming issue of Men’s Health. In the article, he states that “There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that’s been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else“. To counter that, he also states “people’s attitude is that they don’t necessarily want Big Brother telling them what to eat or drink, and I understand that“.

They are also calling this a “sin tax” and putting it in the same category as the cigarette taxes. It should be interesting to see how this plays out in the news media.

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Zevia is being introduced in six flavors: ZEVIA Natural Cola, ZEVIA Natural Orange, ZEVIA Natural Twist, ZEVIA Natural Root Beer, ZEVIA Natural Black Cherry and ZEVIA Natural Ginger Ale.

The ingredient used to replace sugar, stevia, is an herb native to South and Central America. Stevia’s taste has a slower onset than sugar, which may put off some Zevia drinkers. Without actually trying some, it would be hard to say.

You can get Zevia at Whole Foods or many other locations.

Glad to see some soda alternatives out there made from natural substances!

More on Zevia Soda.

Interesting article over at The Wichita Eagle.

“I believe soda is the next tobacco,” said Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina’s Interdisciplinary Obesity Center and author of “The World Is Fat,” published this year.

Soda drinkers haven’t achieved pariah status like smokers before them, but proposed sugar taxes and social pressure to be healthy can put a damper on doing the Dew — and even some in the growing ranks of diet pop drinkers are feeling soda shame.

Although I am NOT a proponent of taxing beverages of any kind, the article does raise a good question. When consumers drink soda excessively, which leads to obesity and other health problems, and do not have health insurance coverage, can the rest of the taxpayers be expected to foot the healthcare bill? Would it be wise to target a main source of obesity and spread the tax burden over those who are consuming soda?

These are all good questions that I think, from a tax perspective, go back to whether you think the government should have a hand in healthcare and what kind of ‘distribution of wealth’ should occur.

I recently drove past the Pottstown Memorial Medical Center and saw a group of 5 or 6 staff members smoking across the street (so they could be off hospital property), looking like total outcasts. Part of me said “Good, they should quit smoking anyway and get the message” but the other part felt bad for them.

Since soda doesn’t have “second hand effects”, I do not think that soda drinkers will go the way of the tobacco smoker, but there will probably be an increasing social stigma to consumers of the sugary beverage (and the diet aspartame replacement).

A delivery truck lost some of its load of soda bottles which went all over Interstate 65 and caused a four-car accident and one reported injury. And by some, I mean 500 20-oz soda bottles!

I don’t know what I would do if I was driving at high speed and saw that scene unfolding in front of me.

Now that is a sticky situation.

Source: Courier-Journal

• Take baby steps. If you drink four sodas per day, replace two with an alternative today.
• Make alternatives slowly. Start with diet soda, then switch to flavored water.
• Once you’ve gotten comfortable with this routine, replace your other sodas with an alternative.
• Still alive? Great! Now switch those diet sodas or flavored water to plain water. Don’t like plain water? Try adding fresh fruit to them.
• Experiment with other beverages like teas, milk, soy milk, and seltzer – the goal here is to hydrate mostly with plain water.
• Don’t keep soda in the house. Make it a treat to be enjoyed now and then.

I am on the step where I have replaced soda with flavored water. Although the chemicals that make up the composition of these flavors (such as 4C “Energy Rush” drinks) doesn’t agree with me – it is a step in the right direction.

Never liked the taste of Diet Soda so I was able to skip that step!

Source: Diet Blog