Overview
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Mini-Grant Awardees
Public Health Institute's Beverage Standards
Why Focus on Beverages?
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Project Description
Rethink Your Drink Fact Sheet (English/Spanish)
Case Studies: Eliminating Electrolyte Replacement Beverages in California Public Schools: Highlights Earlimart School District
Water in Schools, Highlights Oakland Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District, and Lemon Grove School District.
For more information about this project, contact Linda Cowling at [email protected] or (916) 445-2973.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) secured a Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant 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 physical activity, and nutrition initiatives that promote wellness and prevent chronic disease through state-wide policy and local policy. 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.
Public Health Institute's Beverage Standards
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Mini-Grant Awardees
CDPH is providing $25,000 grants from September 2010 through January 2012 to the following four organizations to increase access to healthy beverages:
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.
According to a recent survey at least 40 percent of responding school districts reported not having access to free drinking water for students. In response to this statistic and the need to promote healthy beverage options in schools, Governor Schwarzenegger sponsored and signed into law SB 1413 in 2010 which requires schools to make free, fresh drinking water available to students during meals.
California Food Policy Advocates, with funding from the California Department of Public Health’s California Obesity Prevention Program created a web-based tool kit for educators, school districts and advocates to help comply with the new law.
Water Woes: Recommendations for Creating Healthier School Environments
This policy brief describes the school water situation in the North Coast region of California. The lack of appealing or free water sources on these campuses poses a barrier to students who want to drink more water and fewer sugar-sweetened beverages.
Copyright © 2013 California Project LEAN. All rights reserved.
Web Design by American Web. Grantee Portal
