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Margot Sanger-Katz reports in the NYT that soda consumption is experiencing a serious and sustained decline as sales of full-calorie soda in the United States have plummeted by more than 25 percent over the past twenty years. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are actively trying to avoid the drinks that have been a mainstay of American culture and bottled water is now on track to overtake soda as the largest beverage category in two years. The changing patterns of soda drinking appear to come thanks, in part, to a loud campaign to eradicate sodas. School cafeterias and vending machines no longer contain regular sodas. Many workplaces and government offices have similarly prohibited their sale.
For many public health advocates, soda has become the new tobacco — a toxic product to be banned, taxed and stigmatized. "There will always be soda, but I think the era of it being acceptable for kids to drink soda all day long is passing, slowly," says Marion Nestle. "In some socioeconomic groups, it's over." Soda represents nearly 25% of the U.S. beverage market and its massive scale have guaranteed profit margins for decades. Historically, beverage preferences are set in adolescence, the first time that most people begin choosing and buying a favorite brand. But the declines in soda drinking appear to be sharpest among young Americans. "Kids these days are growing up with all of these other options, and there are some parents who say, 'I really want my kids to drink juice or a bottled water,' " says Gary A. Hemphill. "If kids grow up without carbonated soft drinks, the likelihood that they are going to grow up and, when they are 35, start drinking is very low."
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday October 04 2015, @05:27PM
Juice isn't really the healthiest choice, because the best stuff in fruit is not in fruit juice. It's better than soda, but not by as much as you might think. The drinks that are legitimately healthy for everybody over age 1 or so, provided none of them are to excess: water, tea, beer, wine, milk. (For under age 1, it's an even shorter list: Breast milk, water, in that order.)
That said, the right solution to the problem of soda and other products that are bad in excess is not a heavy-handed ban or limits on the size of drinks (darn you, Michael Bloomberg!) but: 1. A public education campaign. 2. Remove soda from schools. 3. Ban advertising on TV. That had the desired effect for tobacco, there's no reason to think it couldn't work for soda.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 04 2015, @07:32PM
3. Ban advertising on TV.
Unconstitutional.
(Score: 1) by deadstick on Sunday October 04 2015, @09:01PM
Liggett and Myers wish you'd tipped them off to that sooner.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday October 05 2015, @07:01AM
If banning tits on TV is constitutional, then how can banning ads be unconstitutional?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2015, @12:44AM
Tits are only banned on free-to-air broadcast TV.