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Lisa

Articles by Lisa

New Study: Two Sugary or Artificially-Sweetened Drinks A Day Increase Diabetes Risk



Sugary beverages like soda, energy drinks, sweetened teas, lemonades, coffees and fruit juices are known to be an unhealthy daily drink and some say they are becoming the next big tobacco, as researchers continually find their link to elevated chronic health risks. Now new study put on by researchers at the Karolinska Institute have found that not only do sweetened beverages heighten the risk for diabetes, but also artificially-sweetened beverages had similar risks in study results. In fact, higher consumption for these two types of drinks increased a higher risk for type 2 diabetes by 20%. The researchers reviewed over 2,800 Swedish adults compared to adults with diabetes cases, and all results were adjusted for various measures. The results found that possible direct adverse ...

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Australia Estimates Implementing a Soda Tax Would Achieve A 14 Times Return on Health Care Expenditures



Many countries are talking more about reducing sugary beverage consumption after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on October 11th, 2016 it's suggestion to tax all sugary drinks by 20 percent to help reduce consumption. Now talks in Australia have bubbled up around reducing sugary drink consumption, as The Green Party campaigned announced a policy to tax sugary drinks at the recent federal election, reports Foodtank. The country currently stands at a 63% rate of obese or overweight adults and a 27% rate of children that are overweight or obese. The estimated billions in money saved on health care expenditures could benefit the direct cost of overweight and obesity expenditures. A longitudinal study also showed, that over $15.8 billion dollars are spent ...

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Santa Fe Mayor Wants to Actively Decrease Soda Consumption



Santa Fe, New Mexico (51.2% Latino) is still struggling with increasing rates of obesity among children and adults, where reports detail 28.8% percent of adults in the state are obese and 25.6% of kindergarten students were obese or overweight in 2015. The 2015 report from the New Mexico Childhood Obesity Update, revealed that third graders and kindergarten rates of obesity have decreased by 10.6% over six years, but the majority of students in New Mexico, namely Hispanic students, have experienced very little decline in rates of obesity over the last six years. Many in school efforts around healthier foods, and physical activity helped decrease the continued rising rates of childhood obesity, but now other efforts around sugary drink consumption are being discussed. Mayor ...

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Portugal Plans Sugar Tax on Sodas



After the World Health Organization suggested a 20% tax on sugary beverages for all countries, Portugal announced three days later a plan for a sugar tax on soft drinks for 2017, estimated to raise 80 million euros for public health services. Sugary drinks other than sodas like flavored milks or fruit juices will not be taxed, however all sodas are planned to be taxed that have a sugar content above 80 grams per litre. Back in November 2015, Portugal's center-right government tried to introduce a tax on sugar, drinks and foods that contained high amounts of sugars or too much salts but the efforts fell unnoticed. Trying again the political battles will fuel out the battle to determine the sugar tax and ultimately impact the future health of their country. Continued ...

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CSPI Urges Popular Hotels & Convention Centers to Support Healthier Meal Options



Millions of people attend conferences and conventions throughout the world every year and eat whatever is on the planned list for meals. Unfortunately, a new report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) found that there are very few "healthy" options in regards to menu options at these large hotel and convention centers. Reviewing over 70 hotel properties in the 25 largest U.S. cities, CSPI found most options that were considered "healthy" were not based on specific nutrition criteria. In fact, some meals labeled as "healthy" included desserts or pastries, which are often high in fat, calories or sugars. Fortunately, soft drinks were often in most hotels not included in the beverages included in conference or meeting catering options. On the other hand, ...

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New Zealand Doctors Want To End Sales of Sugary Drinks



Since the recent announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO) that all countries should implement a 20 percent soda tax to help reduce worldwide health risks linked to sugary drink consumption, many countries and health advocate groups have started talking about various new sugary drink reduction policy initiatives. Now a group of Doctors, researchers, and public health advocates have joined together with the goal of eliminating sugary drinks from New Zealand by 2025. The group, FIZZ, which stands for "Fighting Sugar in Softdrinks", states on their website their justification in ending sales of sodas is due to the tide of evidence that implicates consumption of sugary drinks with common health risks like type-2 diabetes, rotten teeth gout, and cardiovascular ...

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Pepsi Expands Lower Calorie & No-Sugar Soda Options



The new goal for Pepsi is to have at least two-thirds of it beverages contain 100 calories or less per 12-ounze serving by 2025, according to The Christian Science Monitor. Soda consumption has dramatically decreased over the years as many consumers have concerns about obesity and cancer, linked to high sugar consumption. In fact, Harvard T.H. Chan School of public health states that regular consumers of sugary beverages have a 26 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The trends are changing towards healthier lifestyles, including reducing sugar, and Pepsi wants to keep pace with the changing consumer trends, introducing more zero- and low calorie drinks for the next 10 years. Many schools and hospitals have swapped out sugar and sugary drinks and even some cities have taxed ...

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Cook County Soda Tax Talks Bubble Up



Soda tax discussion in Cook County, Ill. (28.9 % Latino) started to bubble up as Board President of the county, Toni Preckwinkle discussed a proposal for a penny-per-ounce tax to help balance the budget. As the city is fighting debts in the budget, the tax would be applied to help raise an estimated $74.6 million to help fill a $174 million gap, explains, The Chicago Tribune. The American Beverage Association continues to fight against soda taxes in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boulder and has already started running TV and radio ads against the tax in Cook, calling it a "grocery tax" as mentioned in other arguments. Other organizations like the, No Cook County Beverage Tax Coalition, also bringing attention to the tax do not to mention anything about how the tax is solely on ...

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New Study Suggests Parents Watch What They Drink In Front of Kids



Young children often look to their parents for guidance in many things, but a new study now suggests that what a parent drinks in front of their child could make a major impact on their child's health. The study, reported on by The Guardian, looked at four-to-eight-year-olds whose parents drank sweet drinks. Kids whose parents drank fizzy drinks were 192% more likely to drink the same beverages as their parents than other kids their age, 115% more likely to drink fruit juices if their parents did, and 529% to drink smoothies if their parents drank smoothies. Sugary beverages like sodas, sports drinks, juices and other sweetened beverages have been linked to higher rates of diabetes, tooth decay, and other major health risks.Latino kids ages zero to five is higher than the overall ...

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