CA City Perris Passes Ordinance For No More DeFault Soda in Kids’ Meals!

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Congratulation to California, where an ordinance passed last night in the city of Perris (71% Latino) requires restaurant’s kids’ meals to no longer serve sugary drinks as part of the default option of the meal.

Now parents and kids can see the healthy choice as the easy choice when dining out. Families can still order sugary beverages for their kids, but as the American Heart Association warns, just one soda exceeds the limit for sugars for a whole day for teens and kids. One can of regular soda contains nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar and 140 calories.

Policies that promote healthier beverages are important for many kids in the United States who consume at least one sugary beverage a day.

In fact, most two-thirds of children in the United States consumed at least one sugary beverage on any given day — and roughly 30% consumed two or more a day — between 2011 and 2014, according to the study. On average drinking, two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day provides 10 percent of the total daily calories among the children, said Asher Rosinger, epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC and lead author of the study.

And drinking sugary beverages increases risks of type 2 diabetes and suppress infection-fighting white blood cells.

With more Latino kids consuming more sugary beverages than their white peers, and often facing higher health risks of type 2 diabetes, ensuring healthier beverages when eating out is just one step towards creating a healthier beverage environment for Latino families.

Growing to create healthier food and beverage policies, California is taking the lead as Perris joins Davis and Stockton which have similar policies on kids’ menu default beverages.

More and more cities, fast food restaurants and chain restaurants are joining the movement to no longer push sugary beverages on kids, click here to learn more about how you can connect with other health leaders across the country and create healthier food and beverage environments for all children.