“25,000 U.S. Deaths Linked to Sugary Drinks”

 

            “In a study that's sure to shake up the soda ban debate, Harvard researchers have linked the sugary drinks to 180,000 deaths a year worldwide, 25,000 in the United States alone.”  This article tries to prove that sugary drinks are causing thousands of deaths a year worldwide. Interestingly enough, these findings came out a week after Mayor Bloomberg’s suggested ban on super-size sodas was turned down.

            According to the article, “The study adds to mounting evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages, loaded with calories that carry little nutritional value, are a public health hazard.” While theses “facts” are given in the article it doesn't say that the only cause for these health problems is soda. The best this article can say is that these sugary drinks are “linked” to obesity and that a lot of people die every year from obesity-related diseases.

            The American Beverage Association retaliated to this article by pointing out many of the ideas listed above.  They said, "It does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer - the real causes of death among the studied subjects. The researchers make a huge leap when they take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease."  The American Beverage Association refuses to make laws against sodas when such little evidence is given.

            The article goes on to say that it is not the government’s responsibility to micro-regulate citizen’s dietary decisions.  They also say that the responsibility of a person’s health is their own choice.  Overall, it was a weak article that actually persuaded me to think along the lines of the judge who blocked Mayor Bloomberg’s ban.

           

Link to article: http://gma.yahoo.com/25-000-us-deaths-linked-sugary-drinks-003907531.html