Soft drinks. Tasty but not healthy?? Who has the best arguments: Health care professionals or the industry?

Ring, Ring!!! Sounds the bell on the fighting ring between soft drinks consumers, health care professionals and the industry!!!

Who is going to win?? Place your bets!!!

There have been scientists like Mrdjenovic, Levitsky and Schwartz who have proposed a reduction of the availability and portion sizes of sugar sweetened drinks sold at school or provided at home, and I would add: sold in any other place to people.

How did the fight get started? Here is just a little bite of the whole picture!

In a study with child participants, body mass index (bmi) was measured regularly, and daily diet records collected, estimating food intake for an specific period.

The collected data showed that children that were drinking a highest intake of sweetened drinks, added more calories and were even displacing milk from their diet. In the trade-off, the results showed: lower protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin A.

The scientists concluded that sweetened drinks consumption and a decreased drinking of milk might be important risk factors for childhood obesity and nutrient defficiencies.

The recommendations from Schwartz in the article: Soft drinks taste good, but the calories count (J. Pediatrics 2003) were:

+ Teach children to drink water for thirst. I agree with that one myself!!!, Give him one point for that hit!

+ Promote healthier choices in vending machines in schools and communities. Another point for him!

+ Prohibit advertising of sweetened beverages in schools and daycare centers. Fortunately I haven't seen any of that on my son's school. But, mmm... I must agree with that too! So... How do we take off the sign of the brands from the Vending Machines? Woups!, we can't count that stroke jet!

+ To put small taxes on soft drinks and snack foods (for educational or extra-curricular funding for the kids!), Do you give your vote for him if the initiative arrives to your local Congress?). I believe that kind of hurt the industry!! Let's count that point!

So... After the first round, the final count was!! 3 points for the scientists, zero for the industry!!! But here comes the industry response!!! Watch out!!! The audience begins to shout louder!!!

We're not the bad guys the industry says!!! We're not the real villain!! And here comes their strikes!

Obesity is a multi-factorial problem. The bad boys are:

+ Declining physical activity. Yes! That's a good shot! Count a point!

+ Increasing television and screentime. Good point!!

+ Frequency of fast food. Did you noticed that hard hit? One point more! Guys, thinks are getting rough!

+ Extreme portion sizes (Hello! This guys didn't count that every fast food restaurant offers: Small, Medium, Large and Oh My God! Sizes for drinks. So, for that faul, we take them one point off!)

+ Unbalanced patterns of food. Ok, we pass that as a point!

So the round is almost over, and the score on the soft drinks fight is now 3-3! But you think the industry is just over with his rival?? Not at all!

Representatives of the industry have cited a study by Park et al that suggests that sodas consumption has not rised, nor has milk consumption fallen in the past decade, and also the market has started turning to low calories beverages. What is your personal opinion?

Certainly many of the objections of the soft drinks industry are valid, because this kind of drinks by itself don't count for the root of obesity but it is true, that they play a role, and in order to prevent overweight, we all need to short our consumption of beverages high in sugar and low in nutrients and increase physical activity, enhance our nutrition and habits.

The Committee on Nutrition from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) hired a statement on "The Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and Obesity" in 2003 addressing that some causes of this problems are:

+ Genetics.

+ Family dynamics.

+ Home environment.

+ Recent societal changes.

+ Declination in physical activity.

+ Rising of screentime and tv viewing.

+ Dietary factors.

This dietary factors I would say include soft drinks. Just for example, Mexico is the highest consumer worldwide of this type of beverages, and the total dietary intake coming from them account for the 20% of total calories consumed.

American children and adults are not far from that either. It is calculated that 1/3 of their daily energy comes from this class of foods (energy dense, nutrient poor).

The US population as a whole, gets 16% of their total daily energy from added sweeteners (empty calories, nutrient poor). From this, soft drinks represent 33% and fruit drinks represent 43%.

This type of beverages have a higher impact for children, and specially teens. Because as a food group, the added sugars count for 18%-20% of a child's daily energy, of this, sweetened ones count for 40% and fruit drinks represent more than 50%!!! We shouldn't let our diet have more than 10% coming from this sources. Woups!

It is very important then, for learning about healthy eating how to read the labels of the foods, understand the difference between a food from a natural source or a chemical source. Read the calories count. Here are some examples:

Cola beverage.- 12 fl oz give 153 calories. 39 grs are Carbohydrates.

Lemonade, from frozen concentrate (6 oz can).- Has a count of 396 calories. 103 grs are Carbs.

Fruit punch drink canned. Gives 117 calories. 29 grs of Carbohydrates.

Imagine a child needing 1,300 daily calories. How much of this calories come from soft drinks? Remember the size of the bottle counts here, huge size, bigger amounts of carbs and empty calories.

How to read Food labels and understand them

So, besides all the arguments of the industry, we now know from the studies mentioned here as well as others that eliminating just a few ounces of sweetened drinks can lower the risk for childhood obesity.

Result of a poll I made in this Lifetime Fitness Nutrition Website, see what people are drinking of this type of beverages:

Out of 65 responses:

How many soft drinks do you consume each day?

11%.- More than 26 oz (more than 3 1/4 can or 2 cans).

14%.- 13-26 oz (1 3/4 can or 2 cans).

15%.- Up to 13 oz (about 1 3/4 can or 1 can).

60%.- None.

So, for the final count down! One more hit for the health care professionals and an awareness call for consumers. We know who the real winner is! Do you?

Soft drinks are one type of food, see more about foods here.