Last week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest renewed its call for a soda tax to be part of the fiscal cliff deal. This is a misguided approach for several reasons. As we’ve mentioned before, science supports the fact that obesity is not uniquely caused by any single food or beverage. The government’s ...more

In case you missed it this week:  Just about a year after Denmark passed a so-called “fat tax,” the country’s leaders repealed it.  This week top officials in the Danish government explained why they are repealing the tax and abandoning plans for a similar tax on sugar, saying that the tax wasn’t improving public health ...more

Votes have been cast, ballots counted and the results are in! And we’re not only talking about the Presidential election or the U.S House and Senate. We’re referring to two Golden State cities Richmond and El Monte, Calif., which overwhelming rejected a penny-per-ounce tax proposal on sugar-sweetened beverages. As of this writing, 68 percent of ...more

Obesity is the number one health concern in America, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But why has it become so prevalent over the years, and what is the solution to healthier future for Americans? Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health, says genetics is a factor in obesity. David Altshuler, ...more

There’s a perplexing dichotomy in America right now between a population that is getting increasingly older and lawmakers who are increasingly trying to tell people what to eat and drink. According to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau, the nation will have twice as many citizens over the age of 65 in 2050 as there were ...more

We’ve shared our opinion of Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban quite a few times since it was first proposed back in May. We’ve also shared that public opinion polls have shown that people don’t support it.  And we’ve also urged our readers to visit New Yorkers for Beverage Choices for more information.  After all, this ineffective ...more

A little more than a month ago, we blogged about an article on TheAtlantic.com noting that Mayor Bloomberg has misread the data he cited to support his plan.  Today, just two days after his Department of Health held a public hearing on the issue, we thought it was worth sharing an article posted on National ...more

It’s been almost two months since New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed his soda ban. Since that time it has garnered quite a bit of attention, not only from our industry, but also members of the scientific community, elected officials, and, most importantly, those who would be impacted most by such a ban – those ...more

Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed banning the sale of soft drinks larger than 16 ounces, New Yorkers have continued to express their strong opposition and voice the importance of making their own choices about what to buy and in what quantities. They are even gaining support from a strange bedfellow to the south, New Jersey ...more

Earlier today, the American Medical Association (AMA) approved a report which recommends using funds from a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to finance efforts to reduce obesity. The AMA’s report acknowledges that sugar-sweetened beverage taxes are ‘unlikely to significantly impact the prevalence of obesity and other adverse outcomes.” As we’ve said before, taxes don’t make people ...more