New York considers limits on sugary drinks to battle obesity

Samantha Gross
July 25, 2012
AP

THE fizz is frothing in New York as the mayor considers limits on ‘super-sized’ sugary drinks in a desperate bid to put a lid on obesity.

Soft drink and restaurant industries are bottling the mayor’s proposed ban and an effervescent public is lining up to have its say.

Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s put forward his proposal, opponents have accused him of trying to institute a “nanny state” with government controls that infringe on individual choice.

City officials, meanwhile, argue they are trying to save lives in the face of an obesity epidemic that is killing New Yorkers and costing the health budget $4 billion a year.
“This year an estimated 5,800 New Yorkers will die because they are obese or overweight,” Bloomberg said Monday.

But more than 100 people gathered this week on the steps of City Hall to protest, many wearing T-shirts that read, “I picked out my beverage all by myself.” Some protesters said they worked for Coca-Cola, while others represented the restaurant industry.

The protesters called on the administration to target obesity by improving access to physical education and better educating the public. They argued that the proposed ban will do little to curb weight gain.

In a letter released Monday by The New England Journal of Medicine, New York University researchers said the ban could affect nearly two-thirds of drinks bought at the city’s fast-food restaurants, according to a survey of more than 1600 receipts. The rule would apply to sugary drinks larger than 470 milliliters. Drinks that are more than half milk or 70 per cent juice would be exempt, as would diet sodas.

The proposal would apply only to food carts and to establishments regulated by the city’s Health Department, including restaurants, sports arenas and movie theaters. Grocery stores, drug stores and some convenience stores are regulated by the state and would be unaffected.

Bloomberg acknowledged that it’s not only sugary drinks that are to blame for weight gain, but he said the sweet liquids are especially bad because they contain “empty calories that flood our bodies with sugar without making us feel full.”

New York City’s health board has heard hours of testimony on a proposed rule that would limit soft-drink cup and bottle sizes at food service establishments.

Medical experts spared no rhetoric in hailing the proposal as a way to protect the public, sodas and other sweetened beverages are a leading factor in a health epidemic linked to poor eating habits that kills thousands of New Yorkers every year. At least one likened soda companies to big tobacco.

One doctor said before the hearing that the calorie-packed beverages consumers now down with abandon increase the risk of diabetes, and are responsible for a big share of the “massive suffering and premature death” linked to obesity.

“Soda in large amounts is metabolically toxic,” said Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. “It’s obvious that this is the right thing to do.”

A 20 ounce bottle of Coca Cola has roughly the same calorie count as a McDonald’s hamburger, but Kelly Brownell, a psychology, epidemiology and public health professor at Yale University, said it is easier to over-drink than over-eat.

“You don’t feel as full when you consume calories in liquids,” he said.

Critics ridiculed the idea that city officials would be trying to regulate how much people eat or drink.

City Councilman Daniel Halloran III called the proposal a “feel-good placebo” that would hurt profits at small businesses while failing to improve anyone’s health.
Halloran questioned whether a limit on the size of steaks was next.

The Board of Health is scheduled to vote on the measure in September.