Just recently, Canada’s first soft drink tax came to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and already critics are arguing that it may do surprisingly little to combat obesity. Instead, the tax is seen as imposing disproportionate costs on rural communities where soft drinks are one of the only reliable forms of hydration. Data indicates that Newfoundland and Labrador has Canada’s highest rates of both adult and childhood obesity. Sugary beverages have been linked directly to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, which is why public health agencies have gone to great lengths to discourage their consumption. Governments around the globe, such as California, New York City, Mexico, and New Zealand, have attempted in one way or another to examine ways in which to reduce the consumption of sugary beverages.
Some of us may remember one such attempt by Mike Bloomberg, as mayor of New York, who in 2012 proposed a ban that would have prevented food-service establishments in the city from selling sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces and sweetened drinks with more than 25 calories per eight ounces. The ban was set to take place in 2013 and failure to follow the ban may have resulted in a $200 fine. However, the ban was reversed because the courts declared that the city’s Board of Health had “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority” by adopting the ban. Few experts believed that such a ban would have worked anyway.
Then there are those American state laws that banned soda in schools — but not other sweetened beverages. California, for example, became the first state to ban the sale of soft drinks in grade schools, in 2003. However, a 2011 study showed that this ban had virtually no impact on the amount of sugary drinks middle school students buy and consume at school. In states that banned only soda, students bought and consumed sugary drinks just as frequently at school as their peers in states where there were no bans at all. Even in states with policies banning all sugary drinks in schools and where students had less access to them on campus, their overall consumption of the drinks did not fall — suggesting they were getting the drinks elsewhere. In addition, there are a lot of misconceptions about which beverages are healthy. For example, many kids think beverages like Gatorade are a healthy alternative to soda.
For years, the U.S. and Canadian dietary guidelines urged Americans and Canadians to drink fewer sugary beverages. However, it would appear that the simple banning or increase in taxing sugary beverages may not be the answer based on past experiences. Most health experts will argue that increased education and the availability of healthier alternatives is a better alternative, especially among people with lower levels of education and income. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that adults and children are both consuming roughly the same number of calories from soda, sports drinks and other sugary beverages now as they did in 2009-2010. While soda sales are down, Americans and Canadians may be turning in growing numbers to teas, flavored waters and other energy drinks with plenty of sugar added. Among the reasons soda taxes might have such a mixed record is because margins for the drinks are so high that manufacturers, such as Coca-Cola, can easily absorb the cost of a tax and keep the price the same.
Millions of North American adults and kids still drink at least some sugar-sweetened beverage daily. Obesity continues to be issue, especially since it leads to other significant health issues later in life. More children today are found to have Type 2 diabetes then ever before. For parents, that makes education and nutrition awareness all the more important, particularly in schools and community bodies. Efforts to further reduce sugary drink consumption rely on reaching them, especially those in rural and lower income urban communities. Subsidizing healthier alternatives to soda pop and other sugary drinks may be a better option, providing more affordable and healthier beverages to families. Unfortunately, in communities under boil water advisories, such as those in parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, soda is often seen as the cheapest option for hydration. An additional soft drink tax really doesn’t help!
FROLITICKS 
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