Soda’s Big Impact on Obesity

Calling soda the single largest contributor to obesity in California, Rosa Soto, regional director for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, said it is up to advocates to help their communities kick the sugar-sweetened drink habit.

Speaking at a Nov. 8 panel discussion on childhood obesity, sponsored by First 5 LA and Coro CrossTalk, Soto said we live in the “United States of Obesity.” As beverage container sizes grow, so do waists. Children are especially susceptible because of marketing campaigns that target them.

About 41 percent of children 2 to 11 drink a soda or more a day, Soto said, calling the statistic “quite incredible.” In Los Angeles County, that number is more than 44 percent, according to a September 2009 CCPHA study entitled Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and its Link to Obesity in California.

The study found that there are 17 teaspoons of sugar in a 20-ounce soda, which equals about 39 pounds of sugar consumed each year by someone who drinks a soda a day.

Showing a photo of a pre-school age boy gripping a Big Gulp nearly as tall as his torso, Soto said, “Our children are the ones that are most impacted by this.”

Soto said her agency, a First 5 LA Community Opportunities Fund grantee, is working at the grassroots level and with community leaders, advocates, legislators and youth to get out the message out that sugar drinks are harmful to children. She said legislation, like the recently-signed AB 2084, which bans sugar drinks in preschools, makes her “very proud.”

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