Overconsumption Of Soda

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) the health of the people in the United States has not always been the greatest. With an obesity rate of 33.9 percent, which translates into over 106 million obese Americans, this has caused many problems to arise and impact the daily lives of Americans. Many have tried to help in regards to this issue by improving school foods or attempting to encourage more physical activity. Unfortunately, these may have helped but only in a small scale. However, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Mark Bittman believes that he may have a definitive solution. On May 25, 2016, in “Taxing Sugar to Fund a City” New York Times food journalist, Mark Bittman, by using the taxing of sugary beverages in Philadelphia - America’s poorest big city - earnestly

Coke or Pepsi? Diet or regular? These are questions that many of us hear on a regular basis when making choices about what we want to drink. But if a new law has its way this variety of drink choice could be no more, which is largely because soda and sugary beverages are contributing to the staggering increase in obesity rates in recent years in the United States. Obesity is defined as an abnormal accumulation of body fat that is usually 20% or more over an individual’s ideal body weight for their specific height, age and gender (Free Medical Dictionary 2007). Body weight and obesity risk are a result of genes, metabolism, behavior, environment, culture and socioeconomic status, wherein behavior and environment play two of the largest roles (University of Drexel 2015). People make decisions based on their environment or community which influence their health decisions and due to this it is essential to create environments that make is easier for people to engage in physical activity and eat a healthy diet (University of Drexel 2015). This is a problem that is particularly persistent in low-income populations causing them to suffer higher rates of obesity and the adverse health consequences that follow as a result of these poor diets. This is due in large part to their poor economic state but also their environment because they are surrounded by people that are in similar situations and dealing

In New York City the mayor is trying to ban sugary sodas to decrease the amount of obesity. Two-thirds of adults in New York are overweight, 40% of elementary and middle school students fight obesity. Is this because of the intake of sugary sodas or is it the lack of self control? "Liz Berman, the coalition's chairwoman" states "We are smart enough to make our own decision about what to eat and drink."

The New York soda ban is a non effective plan that will not resolve the issue of obesity and show healthy living. I understand that some people may disagree with me for the ban of large drinks can help someone’s drinking habits. Mayor Bloomberg’s idea is proven wrong because there are more factors that cause obesity. More research needs to be done to figure out how to help solve the

People are consuming large amounts of soda in the United states. This increase of soda consumption was significant enough that in 2010 the state of New York proposed to tax soda. The one cent per ounce in taxes was intended to help generate government revenue and to discourage soda consumption but the proposal did not pass (Desantis 2012). The average individual in America consumes 44.7 gallons of carbonated soft drinks in one year (Desantis 2012). If the proposal would have passed the state would have made $5, 721.60 in revenue per soda drinker. The increase of soda consumption continuing to rise, there has also been an increase of type two diabetes diagnosis in America. It is projected that 552 million people will be diagnosed with diabetes by 2030 (Harris, Oldmeadow, Hure, Luu, Loxton, & Attia 2017).

Soda companies “dramatically announced that they would aim to cut the number of sugary drinks calories by twenty percent over the next ten years by reducing the portion size and trying to sell more zero-calorie and low calorie options.” By reducing the portion size, Americans could be drinking more cans, and possibly drinking more ounces than they were originally. As for the zero-calorie and low calorie options, the drinks are considered by doctors to be worst than the original because they contain artificial sweeteners that are not ‘natural sugars’, but chemically made sugars that puts an individual at greater risk of being morbidly obese by slowing their metabolisms, and is also known to elevate their blood pressure. Mexico’s soda consumption and obesity rate was once worst than the United States a few years ago, Mexico then established “a significant tax on soda and junk food.. Soda consumption in Mexico fell by a couple of percent points almost immediately.. there was almost as large increase in the sale of bottled water (not taxed).” Mexico had went ahead with its initiative to stop their nation’s problem, as for the United States, soda has become a major part of our diets. I believe that is restricting us from progressing from this aggravated problem.

There must be a balance between “effectiveness and political acceptability” when it comes to making a positive impact that may affect the social norms of our society (Wiley, 2014). There have been policies made in the recent past by the government that are similar to the soda ban presented by Michael Bloomberg. A great example would be how the government has recently begun mandating the food served to students in schools. The government had to step in due to the obesity of more than a third of Americans as well as the growing prevalence of Type 2 diabetes (Leonard, 2015). These symptoms are diagnosed from poor eating habits and lack of exercise, which are actually causing the cost of treatment to rise. This rise caused the government to intervene and mandate what younger children are eating so it may put a stop to the increasing health issues in the United

Vincent hurries to the nearest vending machine craving that jumbo size snickers bar he had in mind all day. Without having second thought on how awful it is for his body, taking that first bite is all he can imagine. Thanks to unwanted sweets and low priced junk food, one third of the United States is obese. In fact, the US is considered the most obese country on the planet. Although most people may not care about their weight, the government definitely does, which is why they enforced regulations. The government should regulate people’s diets because it will promote healthier food choices, increase the number of graduated students with average weight (slim), and lessen personal health issues.

Diabetes is an epidemic spreading throughout the United States. 29 million people in the United States currently live with diabetes. (“Center for disease control and prevention”, 2016). Coca Cola and Pepsi are two of the top soda distributers around the globe. Coca Cola has been a company since 1886 (“The History of Coca Cola”, 2014). On the other hand Pepsi has been avaible to the public since 1965 (“History of the birthplace”, 2013). These two companies have had over one hundred years combined to advertise, and sell their extremely un-healthy sugar filled beverages. That has aided the diabetes epidemic that is currently in the United States. If one consumes too much soda they will begin to have many health problems, which

The U.S and its people have been facing health problems for the longest time, from all kinds of diseases and health issues- obesity and type 2 diabetes specifically. Obesity and being overweight are problems that teens and adults are facing in the U.S. and is continuing to increase each and every day. The food stamp act created in 1964 was initially designed to help provide food for people in need of help at a time when hunger was one of the main problems hitting the U.S, many years later, while the hunger issue is still existing, the program adjusted at a slow pace to a better nutritional program. For the past couple of years, it has been argued on whether soda and other sugary drinks should be bought on the supplemental Nutrition Assistance

As you already know, most of the drinks you consume contain sugar. They don’t just have some sugar though; they have a lot of sugar. This does not change the fact that so many people drink sugary drinks. If you look at the diet of a child or adolescent, you would notice that soda is pretty high on the chart for sources of sugar. A survey was taken to see how many Americans drink soda daily. The conclusion of the survey included, the daily diet of 48% of the people contains soda. Lets see what is so bad about sugary drinks and what is a healthy substitute for them.

We can all agree on the detriments of obesity, but what is the main cause of the skyrocketing rates of obesity? According to former New York State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, sugary drinks, which have limited nutritious value, are the greatest source of added sugar in most people’s diets, hence, the high obesity rates (633). Others, on the other hand, say there is more than one cause to obesity and sugary drinks are not to blame. One popular solution to this obesity epidemic that has been proposed is the taxation by the government of sugary drinks. The idea behind this proposal is to discourage the consumption of sugar by financially penalizing its consumption. Prestigious doctors and nutritionists believe this tax will indeed help cut obesity rates just like the highly-successful tobacco taxes of the past. While they are some people who oppose the measure of taxing, the taxation of sugary drinks is something the government and the society would benefit from.

I agree that despite the fact that sugary drinks leads to obesity and diabetes, the restaurateurs and retailers, including the transnational corporations such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and McDonalds, continue to oppose this legislation in order to increase their profits. Though New York has the 12th lowest obesity rate in the nation, the adult obesity rate has increased from 17.1 in 2000 to 27 percent currently.1 This proves that obesity is still on the rise and that it is about time to take actions to prevent the complications of obesity. However, limiting the size of a drink would not prevent obesity. The government cannot improve the health of an individual by limiting their food. Individuals have to choose their own lifestyle. Until the individual

My bad habit of drinking soda, I was a typical teenager, I had problems with acne, ate whatever I wanted: pizza, snack cakes, soda, chips basically your standard crappy American diet but, what was hurting me the most of all this snacks was drinking soda. This bad habit led me retain liquids in my body and caused pain every time I had to urine; Drinking soda often, made me look obese and unhealthy, my skin was getting paler every day and I was getting tired very quick; It's going to be really hard to quit this habit because soda is the best tasting drink in my opinion but fortunately I started lowering the amount of soda I drink every day, just because I wanted to see how my body would react without it, my body was performing better when I

Most people, including some scientists, say that it is the inclusion of artificial sweeteners. In an effort to make their drinks more marketable to those desiring to lose weight, soda companies cut natural sugar from their drinks, opting instead for “healthier” artificial sweeteners. However, scientists are beginning to find correlations between artificial sweeteners and some of the precursors to diabetes. Some artificial sweeteners, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science say, cause changes in the body’s metabolic structures and functions to the point of a degraded ability to regulate blood sugar. This condition is directly linked to the development of diabetes (Chang 2014). Another study by researchers at the University of Texas found that diet sodas and artificial sweeteners actually caused people to have a severe increase in weight gain, directly correlated to the amount of diet soda that they consume (LaMotte 2016). The experiments of the researchers at the University of Manitoba also support these claims. They claim that the link of diet soda to childhood obesity is because of the artificial sweeteners present (Kaplan 2016). There are many varieties of artificial sweeteners, though one of the most widely used is high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is very similar to natural sugar in its chemical makeup. Despite this chemical similarity, however, both the flavor and the