Resources: soda consumption

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Regular soda consumption is a noted health risk for our children. Yet children today drink more soft drink beverages than any prior generation, trading essential vitamins and minerals—including calcium—for nutrient-poor soda.¹

Researchers have identified soda consumption as an independent risk factor for childhood obesity. With just one 20 oz. bottle of soda containing 250 calories and the equivalent of 16 teaspoons of sugar, every additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soda increases a child’s risk for obesity by 60 percent.² Increased sugar consumption also dramatically increases risk for Type 2 diabetes, which for the first time has become a problem for adolescents as well as adults. Increased risk for tooth decay, erosion of tooth enamel, and osteoporosis are also associated with frequent soda consumption. See CCPHA's Soda Fact Sheet.

California Legislative Efforts (2002-2005).

SB 1520 (Ortiz, 2002). As introduced, SB 1520 would have created a surtax on every distributor, manufacturer, or wholesale dealer at a rate of $2/gallon of soft-drink syrup or simple syrup, and $0.21/g of bottled soft drinks or soft drink that can be mixed from powder. The revenues would have gone to a fund to be used to help diminish the costs associated with obesity in California. This language was deleted from the bill, and SB 677 was amended to ban the sale of sodas on school campuses, grades K-12. Though this bill was not signed by the Governor in 2002, it became a springboard for SB 677 introduced (and enacted) in 2003.
SB 677 (Ortiz, 2003). Governor Gray Davis signed SB 677 into law on September 16th, 2003. The bill mandated that only healthy beverages be sold on elementary, middle, and junior high school campuses as of July 1, 2004.
SB 965 (Escutia, 2005). Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 965 into law on September 15, 2005. This landmark legislation expanded on the language enacted into law with SB 677 by further narrowing the type of beverages that can be sold on K-12 campuses—elementary, middle schools, and high schools.

Next Steps. With childhood obesity rates soaring, policies must be established at the federal, state, and local levels to increase both access to healthier beverage options and awareness of the risk factors associated with frequent soda consumption. Such policies could include those that impose a soda tax or fee, improve the nutrition quality of beverages sold in vending machines, and enforce new school-based soda policies.

Footnotes

¹ Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health.” June 2005.

² Ludwig, DS, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relationship between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Lancet. 2001; 357:505-8.