This past week I read an article titled “California Just Banned Soda Tax- It Should Set Off Alarm Bells Everywhere.” The opinion column discussed the pre-emptive strike the soda industry has made to the California legislature to prevent a soda tax on their beverage products sold in that state.
This move by the industry is in opposition to local outcries of how soda beverages have wrecked young people’s lives, sending many of them down an early road to Type 2 Diabetes.
In a local California city, the youth stood up and reported 36 percent of their own age group had either already been diagnosed with diabetes or were considered pre-diabetic. Thirty-six percent! Yikes, that’s high. And tragic.
The testimonies of these youth could be heard all around the country as sugar has infiltrated stores, schools, and even our homes in abundance. What does the future look like for those teens?
If diabetes is a progressive disease, and it is, what will their life look like in their 20’s, 30’s, or even, 50’s… after the disease has had decades to work?
As I continued through the article, the author made several comparisons of the soda industry to the tobacco industry. When the tobacco industry realized Americans began to disfavor their products because of health related concerns, they went behind the scenes to protect themselves and keep their products flowing to consumers. And the soda industry is doing the same.
Although this time, our children are the targets. My children. Your children. It’s kids who are the targets.
Here are just a few ways the soda companies position themselves to be the go-to for youth beverages…
In the 1990’s, struggling schools partnered with soda companies to fund their education in exchange for “pouring rights”, an agreement that allowed the soda companies to stock their beverages and snack products in schools. As many as 80% of public high-schools are still under contract. 1
Coca-Cola has acted as the main sponsor of the Olympics for 90 years and shows athletes and kids drinking their products in their print and TV advertising.2
“Ten brands of regular soda, energy drinks, and other sugary drinks contributed over 80% of advertising to children and teens on TV in 2013.” 3 – Sugary Drink Facts Org.
PepsiCo. is the owner of Gatorade and Coca-Cola Enterprises owns Powerade. Each company has a vested interest in supplying our kids with a sugary sports drink and market that product through famous athletes.
If a kid wants to become an athlete, don’t they want to mimic the habits of their idol?
Unfortunately, the over consumption of these beverages is doing just the opposite. Instead of becoming fitter, our kids are fighting obesity and early onset diabetes. And if the opinion article is true, it saddens me to say the soda industry doesn’t care about the health of their consumers. They just want to protect their product.
As a trainer, that makes me angry. As a mom, it makes me even more angry.
But the soda companies do not control our pantries. We do.
In our Pipeline Summer Camp for kids, we discuss sugar found in snacks and drinks. We have the kids rank the snacks from lowest to highest amount of sugar they think is in each. We have them take a teaspoon and measure how much is in each snack, filling a clear cup to visualize what they are putting in their bodies. Their eyes get large as they count up the teaspoons in each cereal, candy bar, fruit snack and other food items.
How does it end?
The soda and the sports drink rank at the top of the list every time.
Keep moving,
Priscilla
1 https://www.motherjones.com/food/2012/08/schools-limit-campus-junk-food-have-lower-obesity-rates/
2 https://www.olympic.org/news/coca-cola-and-the-olympic-games-celebrate-90-years-of-partnership
3 http://sugarydrinkfacts.org/resources/sugaryDrinkFACTS_ReportSummary.pdf
p.s. We are passionate about the health of this community. Especially the health of kids and families, which is why we started our Pipeline Program. If you’re curious about what we do to help youth start and maintain healthy habits, Click here.
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