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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/b...ort-to-cut-americans-drink-calories.html?_r=0

The three largest soda companies — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group — have pledged to cut the number of sugary drink calories that Americans consume by one-fifth in about a decade, through a combination of marketing, distribution and packaging.

The commitment, made Tuesday at the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative, taking place this week in New York, was an acknowledgment by the companies of the role their products play in the country’s obesity crisis and the escalating rates of diabetes and heart disease that accompany it.

“This is huge,” former President Bill Clinton said in a telephone interview. “I’ve heard it could mean a couple of pounds of weight lost each year in some cases.”

He said that in low-income communities, sugary sodas may account for a half or more of the calories a child consumes each day. Sugary soft drinks account for about 6 percent of the average consumer’s daily calories.

The companies aim to reduce each American’s calorie consumption in sugary drinks by 20 percent on average by 2025. They will expand the presence of low- and no-calorie drinks, as well as drinks sold in smaller portions, and use their promotional skills to educate consumers and encourage them to reduce the calories they are drinking.

Sales of sugary drinks have been declining for more than a decade, because of greater awareness among consumers about the link between their eating habits and their health. From 2000 to 2013, calories consumed through sugary drinks fell 12 percent, according to Beverage Digest, attributed to declining soda sales and increased consumption of water and low-calorie drinks.

Over that time, soda companies have expanded their portfolios to include waters, juices and energy and sports drinks, and they continue to diversify. This year, Coca-Cola bought a minority stake in Monster, the energy drink company, and a similar investment in Keurig Green Mountain has led to the development of a machine to make cold single-serve drinks, which will be introduced this fall to compete with SodaStream soda makers.

Health advocates generally dismissed the Tuesday announcement as little more than another example of the industry’s marketing prowess.

“I suspect they’re promising what’s going to happen anyway,” said Kelly Brownell, an expert on obesity and dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. “All the trends are showing decreased consumption of high-calorie beverages, and so what better way to get a public relations boost than to promise to do what’s happening anyway?”

Mr. Clinton said he recognized how hard it would be for consumers to change their habits. “When I was in my freshman year in college trying to live on a dollar a day, I drank at least one and sometimes two 16-ounce bottles of Royal Crown Cola a day because they cost 15 cents,” he said.

But after a heart operation in 2004, Mr. Clinton radically altered his diet. He said he now mostly drank water or iced tea, though he likes Gatorade G2, a sports drink with 30 calories.

 

[Bronetta]

RC Cola? Bill Clinton confirmed greatest PoaT

But really you all need to cut sugar out of your life. Probably the healthiest choice you can make.

 

[NeOak]

So from High Fructose Corn Syrup to Aspartame and the other Splenda shit.

I'll keep buying Mexican Coke, at least it has sugar.

 

[Aliquidmeri]

Smaller portions? I'd love to buy an 8oz bottle of coke instead of a giant 20oz one.

 

[ponpo]

Ban this cancer water already. Or tax it heavily. 2L for $35 ( ≖‿&#8790

 

[Henchmen21]

Watch them cut the amount of HFC but keep the same prices as the ones now but smaller size.

 

[DarkFlow]

Ban this cancer water already. Or tax it heavily. 2L for $35 ( ≖‿&#8790

How about no?

 

[womp]

RC Cola? Bill Clinton confirmed greatest PoaT

But really you all need to cut sugar out of your life. Probably the healthiest choice you can make.

I used to love RC Cola as a kid and to this day it is my favorite soda pop. A shame it has all but fallen off the face of the earth locally.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

They need smaller sizes. In Japan you can buy 300ml bottles. Bring that over. No one needs to drink a liter in one sitting.

Edit: Apparently you can get the small ones in America. Nice! Now we just need the tiny 160ml cans

 

[OldAsUrSock]

They need smaller sizes. In Japan you can buy 300ml bottles. Bring that over. No one needs to drink a liter in one sitting.

Their design is nicer too.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Ban this cancer water already. Or tax it heavily. 2L for $35 ( ≖‿&#8790

WTF?

 

[Ivan A Nguyen]

So 2026 will have the revival of Coke and Pepsi classic?

 

[Nilaul]

So a can of coke by by 2025 will have 4.8 teaspoons of sugar instead of 6.

WE ARE ALL SAVED

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Wow an annualized caloric reduction of 2%. So ambitious. Really setting lofty goals for yourself.

 

[Guevara]

Unfortunately this probably means a move to fake sugars and sugar substitutes.

 

[And_Gignac]

Meh. Sugar tastes amazing, we all gonna die at the end no matter how healthy you eat.

 

[TheAbsolution]

So a can of coke will have 4.8 spoons of sugar instead of 6.

WE ARE ALL SAVED

Actually it seems as though the content won't change, just the packaging. Maybe smaller sizes? Who knows?

 

[Hypemaster]

Don't you dare coca cola. DON'T YOU DARE!!

 

[Nilaul]

Meh. Sugar tastes amazing, we all gonna die at the end no matter how healthy you eat.

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

 

[demon]

The way soda is consumed, at least in this country, is gross. It's liquid candy, nothing more. People chug it down like water.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Wow an annualized caloric reduction of 2%. So ambitious. Really setting lofty goals for yourself.

Yeah that's a fairly challenging goal, actually.

They are still businesses trying to make money. They still want people to consume their products. But they also do not want to be associated with diabetes, weight gain, etc.

This seems like a pretty reasonable goal. They are still publicly traded firms. They want growth.

 

[Nilaul]

Actually it seems as though the content won't change, just the packaging. Maybe smaller sizes? Who knows?

But then people will just by the bigger bottles instead of the small ones. Or will just buy more bottles.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

Go on...

 

[BocoDragon]

Unfortunately this probably means a move to fake sugars and sugar substitutes.

That would still be a net positive IMO. We understand now that artificial sweeteners affect the body's metabolism and the way it stores calories when something sweet is consumed.... But I think that effect is insignificant compared to dumping hundreds of empty calories into your body.

 

[Ravijn]

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

Didn't you see the news recently. Salt is good for you now.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

Your ideally want around 2300 mg of sodium per day. A can of soda isn't getting you anywhere near that.

A can of chunky soup with 120 calories (~ the same as a can of coke) has ~900mg of sodium.

 

[water_wendi]

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

One slice of pizza will have tons more sodium than 55mg... hundreds to over a thousand per slice. A tsp of hot sauce has 4 times as much sodium than a can of Coke.

 

[zigg]

That would still be a net positive IMO. We understand now that artificial sweeteners affect the body's metabolism and the way it stores calories when something sweet is consumed.... But I think that effect is insignificant compared to dumping hundreds of empty calories into your body.

I don't drink any sugary soda anymore, and I'm still substantially overweight. I do have some (1-2 drinks a week?) artificially-sweetened stuff though.

 

[Ravijn]

I don't drink any sugary soda anymore, and I'm still substantially overweight. I do have some (1-2 drinks a week?) artificially-sweetened stuff though.

Stop eating donuts.

Spoiler

I'm joking

 

[xbhaskarx]

Meh. Sugar tastes amazing, we all gonna die at the end no matter how healthy you eat.

RJ Reynolds and Phillip Morris like the way you think.

 

[DarkFlow]

But you also forgot about the huge amount of salt in coke.

55mg of sodium per can; which is like drinking a pizza.

A pizza hut pizza has 540 in 1 slice. That's just for a plan cheese! Not even close there lol.

https://order.pizzahut.com/nutrition-information

 

[magenta]

These guys wont be losing much sales, they all have a whole range of products to choose from like bottled water to fruit juices.

 

[Nilaul]

A pizza hut pizza has 540 in 1 slice. That's just for a plan cheese! Not even close there lol.

https://order.pizzahut.com/nutrition-information

Dam...

 

[rrvv]

But then people will just by the bigger bottles instead of the small ones. Or will just buy more bottles.

they dont want you to reduce number of cola you drink. they just want you to reduce the sugar.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

The way soda is consumed, at least in this country, is gross. It's liquid candy, nothing more. People chug it down like water.

Yeah. A can of coke has as many calories as an ice cream cone and TWICE the amount of sugar. It's a dessert.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

The market is doing it for them, cola sales are way down.

 

[Bronetta]

Meh. Sugar tastes amazing, we all gonna die at the end no matter how healthy you eat.

There are plenty of things that taste amazing which don't contain so much sugar.

Life is a journey, not a destination. Don't overburden it with needless struggles.

 

[Aiustis]

So from High Fructose Corn Syrup to Aspartame and the other Splenda shit.

I'll keep buying Mexican Coke, at least it has sugar.

A lot of companies seem to be putting sucralose in while still using HFC. I can still taste it. Shit's nasty. T.T People with jacked taste buds don't know how lucky they are.

 

[Malvolio]

Ban this cancer water already. Or tax it heavily. 2L for $35 ( ≖‿&#8790

Listen to this man.

 

[Jazzy Network]

I pretty much cut out soda. Worse thing I drink is Gatorade and Powerade.

 

[adamsappel]

Smaller portions? I'd love to buy an 8oz bottle of coke instead of a giant 20oz one.

When I was a kid in the '70s, there were 3 sizes: 8oz bottle, 12oz can and 16oz bottle. My friends and I used to collect the bottles for deposit, and the 16oz bottles almost invariably had a few ounces left over. It sucked because they attracted so many more bees. People just didn't drink that much soda (and the only diet soda was Tab, which was and is awful). Then 7-11 introduced the Big Gulp and that was it.

 

[Ravijn]

I pretty much cut out soda. Worse thing I drink is Gatorade and Powerade.

Yeah probably more sugar in those than soda.

 

[Log4Girlz]

They're going to kill off a substantial number of Americans. There's always a catch.

 

[Bronetta]

Yeah probably more sugar in those than soda.

A 591ml bottle of fruit punch Gatorade has 12g of sugar. Nowhere close to the amount sodas have.

 

[Sami+]

Ban this cancer water already. Or tax it heavily. 2L for $35 ( ≖‿&#8790

This is stupid.

I love the shit out of Dr. Pepper. It tastes good and it goes well with fast food. A few months ago though I decided to take my health more seriously and have stopped drinking all carbonated drinks completely.

Moral of the story? That's not the government's business. If I decide I don't want to drink soda anymore, that's my own life. If the fat guy next to me decided he's happy with himself, then good for him.

 

[Superflat]

When I was in high school I remember they took out soda machines and replaced them with Snapple during the early soda demonization days. It was hilarious because the sugar content was nearly identical. It maybe shaved off 5 grams of sugar, which is barely anything when you're talking about 45-55g per bottle.

Health advocates generally dismissed the Tuesday announcement as little more than another example of the industry’s marketing prowess.

“I suspect they’re promising what’s going to happen anyway,” said Kelly Brownell, an expert on obesity and dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. “All the trends are showing decreased consumption of high-calorie beverages, and so what better way to get a public relations boost than to promise to do what’s happening anyway?”

Precisely.

I use plain and brown sugar while cooking but I always try to be conscious of how much sugar and saturated fat is in the nutritional label on anything I buy off the shelf in the market. The only time I throw caution to the wind is if I'm eating out on a special occasion which is a couple times a month at most.

 

[Malvolio]

This is stupid.

I love the shit out of Marlboros. It tastes good and it goes well with fast food. A few months ago though I decided to take my health more seriously and have stopped smoking tobacco completely.

Moral of the story? That's not the government's business. If I decide I don't want to smoke cigarettes anymore, that's my own life. If the cancer guy next to me decided he's happy with himself, then good for him.

.

 

[Luigiv]

They need smaller sizes. In Japan you can buy 300ml bottles. Bring that over. No one needs to drink a liter in one sitting.

Yeah got those pretty recently in Australia too. The wider availability of small servings definitely does encourage we to drink less.

 

[kirby_fox]

So we moved from sugar to fake sugar, and now we're moving to cancer causing, nasty tasting fake sugar.

I would prefer to move back to sugar again...the cost would get me to go back to water.

 

[Aliquidmeri]

When I was a kid in the '70s, there were 3 sizes: 8oz bottle, 12oz can and 16oz bottle. My friends and I used to collect the bottles for deposit, and the 16oz bottles almost invariably had a few ounces left over. It sucked because they attracted so many more bees. People just didn't drink that much soda (and the only diet soda was Tab, which was and is awful). Then 7-11 introduced the Big Gulp and that was it.

My grandma still buys 8 oz glass bottles from a local store, but they're not widely available were I live. Its a much better serving size then the regular bottle or can.