As the New York City Health Department updates its new addition to last year s Pouring on the Pounds campaign with posters and advertisements that graphically display the amount of sugar that goes into a king-sized soda new research indicates that New Yorkers are already curbing their liquid sugar cravings.
According to the city s Health Department, the number of people drinking one or more sugar-rich beverages decreased by 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, but three out of every five New Yorkers are still overweight or obese. The department also claims that sugar in sweetened beverages is the leading source of calorie intake amongst Americans.
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan is disappointed that the NYC Health Department is not encouraging the consumption of diet soda. If I were in the city health department and my goal was to get people to stop drinking sweetened beverages, I would be spending 80 percent of my press release efforts hyping diet soda. The fact that they do not even mention diet soda in their campaign against sugary beverages speaks volumes. Diet soda is the obvious alternative to regular soda!
Meanwhile, the campaign exempts sugary, naturally sweetened fruit juices, such as orange juice, adds ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. How many calories per gram is added sugar versus natural sugar? They re equally caloric!
