Sugar Sweetened Beverages Project Description
Fact Sheet: Limiting Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Makes Good Sense (English/Spanish)
The California Department of Public Health has secured grant funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) for obesity prevention efforts. The Recovery Act includes funds for community -based prevention and wellness strategies and obesity prevention, physical activity, and nutrition initiatives that promote wellness and prevent chronic disease through statewide and local policies, the built environment, and environmental change. Projects are funded for two years beginning in February of 2010.
California Project LEAN has taken the lead for the nutrition initiative for this grant. The nutrition initiative will focus on increasing access to healthy beverages and limiting access to sugar-sweetened beverages through policy initiatives.
Why Focus on Beverages?
A 2004 study found that sugar-sweetened beverages are the single largest contributor of calorie intake in the United States. The scientific evidence linking sugared beverages with weight gain is stronger than for any other food category. Rigorous scientific studies have show that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with poor diet, increasing rates of obesity, and risk for diabetes. These links are strong for children. Papers not showing this effect are generally funded by the beverage or sugar industries.
Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is highest among groups that are at greatest risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In California, 62 percent of adolescents ages 12-17 and 41 percent of children ages 2-11 drink at least one soda or other sweetened beverage every day. For children, each extra can or glass of sugar-sweetened beverage consumed per day increases their chance of becoming obese by 60 percent. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher among California adolescents who drink sugar-sweetened beverages than those who don’t.
While traditional carbonated drinks such as soda are losing market share, beverages like sports drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened waters and teas are showing significant growth in the marketplace. In a 2008 representative sample of public high schools in California, 8 of the 10 top beverages offered for sale in California schools were sugar-added electrolyte replacement beverages.
For more information about this project, contact Cyndi Walter at cyndi.walter@cdph.ca.gov or (916) 552-9980.
