The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

Post by Yxven » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:38 PM UTC

kedean wrote: post #50

lemevi wrote: post #5

Just take some time next time you're in a supermarket and walk down the cereal aisle, it's just incredible. It's all sugar and carbohydrates in colorful cartoony boxes meant to appeal to children. Just a cup of cereal has many calories and people and children eat huge bowls of this stuff. So I think an anti-cereal campaign might also help. I often wonder what would happen to national obesity rates if cereal aisles in…

I'm not convinced that cereal as a product is bad. Sure things like Lucky Charms are clearly terrible for kids, but Cheerios or Honey Bunches of Oats? They are the best combination of cheap, easy, and quick that someone can get for breakfast. My biggest worry with an anti-cereal movement would be that people would just start skipping breakfast (even more than they do), leading them to consume MORE calories at lunch a…

Post by kachnuv_ocasek » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:46 PM UTC

lfjmfkekdk wrote: post #62

kachnuv_ocasek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two clicks from the 'First amendment' Wikipedia article led me to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_Unite... So yeah, it might pass.

Well, not exactly. Tobacco advertising bans, aside from TV and radio, were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92990&page=1 You can ban it from TV and radio if there's a compelling government interest but even the head medical chied of the ADA says there is no definitive proof that sugar causes diabetes. (See my link above)

Post by mikenyc » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:50 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #60

caseysoftware wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why we haven't had anyone start smoking in decades.. Soda sales are down but obesity is still up, so the calories are coming from somewhere. If you believe the other common stories, we're drinking the calories. I'd wager they come from the rise of coffee-based beverages - which would not be considered soda - but I don't have data to back that up.

For now I think Starbucks et al are benefiting from being culturally identified as more upper/middle-class. Obesity stereotypes seem to have fixated mostly on a "people of Walmart" type image of the fat, slobbish lower classes. So even though a 12-oz Starbucks caramel latte is far worse than a 12-oz Coke, it gets a pass.

Post by at-fates-hands » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:55 PM UTC

klenwell wrote: post #25

When Mr. Nutter was fighting the soda tax battle, he kept a bottle of Mountain Dew and a container with 17 teaspoons of sugar — the amount in the bottle — on the table in the center of his office. It was a good “conversation piece,” he said, about the surprising number of calories in a typical soda. I think this is key. Better information and transparency is having an effect. I'm glad to hear we're approaching a poin…

Post by hugh4 » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 7:59 PM UTC

kw71 wrote: post #81

neverartful wrote: post #53

Like many of the posters here, I realize that much of the food and drink sold is unhealthy. On the other hand, I don't think that nanny state regulations are the answer. Plenty of unhealthy things abound (when overused): chips, candy, pizza, fast food, cookies, ice cream, video games, television, etc. Maybe some of the same marketing tactics used to sell the unhealthy things can also be used to counter them with heal…

Under a socialized healthcare regime, every sick person is a problem for the whole society in that we have to pay for it. So, being careless with your health is a crime against the people. If you are in the USA, consider that you have been funding healthcare for some of the worst offenders for decades by paying taxes which fund hospitals. Now with the healthcare reforms in mind, which have itemized your contribution…