A Bad Pepsi Ad, Exploitation of Latino Kids, and the Cost of Obesity


pepsi and kid social justice

Have you seen Pepsi's soda ad that it yanked after big public outrage? It shows a staged protest with good-looking multicultural crowd and model Kendall Jenner. Jenner gives a Pepsi to a police officer. He smiles, everyone's happy. Social justice delivered and police brutality solved—by soda. The ad sparked a storm of criticism, for some obvious reasons. Even scarier is that sugary drink marketers continues to exploit Latino and Black youth, and stir obesity issues in these groups, according to commentaries by Vox's Julia Belluz and The Washington Post's Michelle Singletary. Belluz writes: "The public health community has long argued that big soda’s targeting of African Americans and Latinos is exacerbating health problems in those communities. We now have a big ...

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San Antonio Launches New Nutrition Education Campaign


Latino Health Viva Nutrition

People care deeply about health; however, with so many complicated messages from health experts and contradicting messages from food manufacturers, as well as lack of access to affordable healthy food, it can be very difficult for families to make truly healthy choices. Latinos, in particular, face additional barriers to access healthy food, thus face higher rates of obesity and related chronic diseases. The City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) launched a new ¡Viva Health! Eat well, feel great. Come bien, sientete bien. campaign in March 2017 to target the biggest public health threats of this generation—obesity and diabetes. Obesity is linked to numerous burdensome chronic diseases and diminished quality of life, and diabetes can lead to blindness, ...

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Multnomah Health Advocates Work To Get Soda Tax on the Ballot


water boy Latino

Health advocates hoping to raise an estimated $28.4 million per year from a soda tax in Multnomah County are working to gather around 25,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. The tax would allow for an 18 cent tax for an average 12-ounce soda or 51 cents per liter of soda, with revenues helping to fund early childhood education, reading and literacy initiatives and school programs encouraging nutrition, physical education, school gardens and more. Health advocates like Michael Bloomberg are working together to get the initiative off the ground with seed funding. Also, the American Heart Association, who have helped pass similar policies across the nation have started a local advocacy group called,"Yes for Healthy Kids and Education Coalition" aiming to build support ...

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Panera Bread Posts Added Sugars on Self-Serve Beverages



Eating and drinking healthier can be a challenge, especially when dining out. Now, Panera Bread announced their series of sugary beverages that will show the nutritional information, calories, and amount of sugars for each beverage. The first national restaurant company to post calories and sugars in its beverages, Panera plans to continue improving transparency for their customers, as they were one of the first chains to post calories on menus in 2010. “We believe people deserve to know exactly what’s in their drink so they can make the best choice for their lifestyle,” said Sara Burnett, Director of Wellness, Panera Bread explained in their press release.  “We know more and more guests are looking to reduce their added sugar consumption, and we’re providing an ...

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Water Champions Push H2O for Latino Kids, Families



Water isn't magic, but it can help you stay hydrated, control calories, and fuel muscles. But Latino kids don't drink enough water. In fact, Latino kids drink less plain water and more sugary drinks than white kids. That is according to research by Salud America!, a national Latino childhood obesity prevention network at UT Health San Antonio. That’s why we are spotlighting heroes who work hard to push water for Latino kids and families! Praxina Guerra: 5th-Grader Gets Hydration Station in School San Antonio fifth-grader Praxina Guerra and her mentor, Cathy Lopez, are true Salud Heroes when it comes to creating a healthy school environment. Praxina, spurred on by Lopez, joined the city's San Antonio Student Ambassador program and created a student club to encourage ...

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New Healthy Drinks Act Is Proposed To Help Students Health In the Philippines



To help decrease the increasing rates of obesity and ensure greater health for students in the Philippines, a congressman announced on Monday, March 13th, 2017 a Healthy Drinks bill for all public schools in the country. The act hopes to improve the diet of over 21 million students in the country where more than 46,000 public schools will have to limit, if not ban, the sales of soft drinks and energy drinks in schools. Ang Edukasyon, party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro explained to radio dzBB, that the World Health Organization (WHO) has encouraged banning or limiting sugary drinks, and now that sugary beverages are so cheap in Filipino schools, it has become a popular drink of choice for students during recess time. However popular sugary drinks are for kids, they usually contain ...

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Chancellor Confirms Sugary Beverage Tax



Sugary drink taxes and other policy restrictions on sugary drinks are growing in popularity across the globe to help reduce sugar intake in order to decrease rising obesity levels. Now British Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a two-tier levy of 18 pounds on drinks that have five grams of sugar per 100ml and the higher 24-pound rate on those with more than eight grams per 100ml. The British Soft Drinks Association opposes the tax, but the Obesity Health Alliance supports the tax. The tax set to be implemented starting in April 2018 doesn't include milk or pure fruit juice drinks but does include some alcoholic drinks. A spokeswoman from the Obesity Health Alliance told local news Sunderland Echo, "This is a significant step in the battle against obesity and the Government ...

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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 ...

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South African Sugary Beverage Policies Effective For Rural Schools



In Vhembe-Mutale school district, sugary drinks have been banned since the beginning of the school year. The change has been successful and popular according to Health24, as parents like Tambulani Mbedzi explained that her child was suffering from headaches and found out that it was due to drinking a lot of sugary drinks at school being sold by hawkers. Children would buy two or three bottles of sugary drinks at a lower price from these hawkers that were selling sugary drinks to kids at school. The deputy principal at the school, Rendani Nemufulwi complained that because of these hawkers, that would even try to sell to kids secretly, kids were drinking tons of sugary drinks at the school and were less inclined to eat nutritious foods. Parents are happy about the changes, ...

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