New Colorado Health Coalition Submits Language for a Sugary Drink Excise Tax



A new coalition has joined together as the Healthy Boulder Kids, aimed to help advocate healthier changes for kids in the state to have equal access to healthy foods and opportunities for activity. The group also is aiming to help prevent childhood health risks like diabetes and obesity and is submitting language for an excise tax on distributors of 2 cents per ounce on sugary drinks that contain at least 5 grams of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or other added sweeteners per 12 fluid ounces. The measure would provide funding for programs that give greater access and opportunity for healthy foods and exercise for families and children living in Boulder. It would also not tax 100 percent fruit juice, vegetable juices (with no added sweeteners), milk products, liquid medicines, ...

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South Africa to tax sugary beverages



A growing list of countries around the world are starting to tax sugar-sweetened beverages in hopes to combat the health risks associated with them, including South Africa. The tax is aimed at helping decrease future associated health risk costs related to diseases like obesity. According to a recent article Professor Tess van der Merwe says half of South African adult women and a third of adult men are "overweight" and obesity rates are rising sharply in african children. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported obesity rates of children under five have nearly doubled. The levy, announced in February this year by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his budget is set to take effect in April 2017. Copy & Share on Twitter: South Africa to have #sodatax in April 2017 ...

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World Organizations Ask Big Soda to Stop Marketing to Kids



Health organizations around the world are asking the largest beverage industries, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to adopt changes in regards to marketing to kids ages 16 and younger. Gathering with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Wash. D.C., groups such as The World Public Health Nutrition Association, World Obesity Federation, Healthy Latin America Coalition, Alianza por la salud Alimentaria, and more wrote to big soda's CEO's and institutional investors to consider the soda-related health risks that communities in low-income countries continue to face with rising rates of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Billions of dollars is spent in marketing soda world-wide and much of the "core demographic" according to CSPI's recent article, are teens and low-income ...

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Out With Soda in With Water Fountains



High Schools in St. Joseph, Missouri are now able to help students make the healthier choice the easier choice with the school's new water bottle stations. To help encourage students to chose water over sugary beverages, local health departments helped purchase the new water bottle filling fountains for various local schools and put up sugar shocker signs to help students know how much sugar is in various sugary beverages. The grant came through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and then the new fountains were purchased by the City of St. Joseph Health Department to help encourage students to drink more water. Quick-fill water bottle stations that transform regular water fountains into bottle filling stations were put into various local schools including ...

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New Study: Sugar, carbs and sweets linked to higher cancer risks



Eating high sugar diets have been known to cause health risks for many years, but a new study based on nearly 3,200 U.S adults whose diet habits and cancer rates were tracked for more than 2o years, show that 565 people were diagnosed with cancer. In the study, results showed that women whose diets consisted of healthy carbohydrates like vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes, had a 67 percent less likelihood of developing breast cancer, compared to women who favored refined carbs like white bread, potatoes and white baked goods. The study also revealed that men who drank sugary juices or beverages were more than three times as likely to develop disease verses men who didn't drink sugary juices or beverages. The lead researcher, Ph.D. candidate in nutrition at New York ...

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Oakland council member proposes a soda tax


Water and Soda

Plans to put a soda tax on the November ballot were announced from Oakland Council member Annie Campbell Washington this week. Washington stated in a recent article that for her it was all about the public health crisis, saying that "Sugar is the new tobacco." Sugary beverages have been linked to chronic disease like diabetes and research show that one in every three children is at risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other chronic diseases that used to affect only adults. According to a local article , one in seven Oakland youth drink two or more sodas each day, increasing their risks for diet-related diseases. Washington plans to run a grass-roots campaign to help push the efforts, and also plans to have an advisory board of residents, doctors, and ...

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New Study: More water fountains in schools helps students have healthy weights



Drinking water is a vital component to staying healthy, and now a new study from JAMA Pediatrics shows how students in New York who had more restrictive beverage option at school and access to clean and cold water, also came to have healthier weights. But recent news stories have shown that not all schools water is safe. Schools need to make sure water is safe through lead tests and having safe water accessible for all students, and visitors, especially since water may help students weight, finds the new study. The study looked at more than 1 million students across New York schools after a new rule banned sodas and high sugar and calorie drinks, but replaced vending machines with new water jets. The students were given cups to use in conjunction with the water jets, and ...

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Changing Kids Pre-Set Menus


sugary drinks

Many restaurants offer the same sugary beverages on kids meals with unhealthy options like high-sugar sodas, lemonades and juices. Now Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill to help ban sodas and other sugary drinks from kids menu's in all restaurants. Wanting to help parents and kids make the healthy choice the easy choice, the bill would change kids menus to offer healthier choices like water, low-fat milk or 100 percent juices at regular price. "The choice that comes with 80 percent of restaurant kids' meals is a soda or a fruit punch, and in those cases families are always welcomed to ask for a healthy drink, but it sometimes costs $2 or $3 more to get a milk," Robi Rawl, the Sugar Free Kids Maryland Executive Director said in a recent article. According to the Center ...

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Jack in the Box Takes Sugary Drinks Off Kids Menus


sugary drinks jack in the box

A move in the right direction for healthier kids menus, the fast food chain Jack-in-the-Box, is taking soda and sugary beverages like Hi-C punch and lemonade off of their kids' menu. The new kids' menus offering healthier beverage options will take place in all 2,200 of the chain's locations nationwide. Groups like Moms Rising and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have worked with parents across social media and stakeholder groups to help encourage these changes toward healthier beverage options and less promotion of sugary beverages in restaurant chains across the country. Jack-in-the-Box now joins Dairy Queen, Burger King, and others in removing sugary drinks. More is needed to be done to help kids see healthier options as the easier and more appealing ...

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