The New York City portion cap on sugar-sweetened drinks was back in court earlier this week. I attended the appeals hearing held at the state appellate court. The NYC health department argued against the ruling by Judge Milton Tingling that blocked the cap on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces from being sold in food establishments including fast food establishments, delis, and other locations which get a letter grade. As reported in the New York Times, the lawyer for the city was met with skepticism from the justices of the First Department of the Appellate Division. It is unclear when a ruling will be issued.
As I previously blogged on The Huffington Post and the NY Daily News, I support the portion-size cap on sugary beverages. In a nutshell, portion size matters and can help in the fight against obesity. As I illustrated in my book The Portion Teller Plan, portion sizes of sodas have increased considerably over the years. Large portions may contribute to obesity because they contain more calories than small portions. While a small soda (16 ounces) at KFC contains 180 calories, the Mega Jug (64 ounces) contains nearly 800 calories. Larger portions also encourage us to consume more and to underestimate our intake. Soda, in particular, offers up no positive health benefits and is pure sugar.
Now, a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that soda size limits may help in the fight against obesity. The study found that limiting the sale of oversized sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages could affect 7.5 percent of Americans daily, have the greatest impact on overweight individuals, and would not discriminate against the poor.
The study found that about 60 percent of Americans consumed sugary drinks daily, but only 7.5 percent of them purchased "super-size" sugary drinks from an eatery on a given day. The rates, however, were somewhat higher for certain groups: 13.6 percent of overweight teens, 12.6 percent of overweight young adults aged 20 to 44 and 8.6 percent of overweight people in general. The investigators also found that low-income and high-income people were equally likely to buy large sugary drinks from restaurants, which challenges the criticism that a ban on the sale of these drinks at eateries discriminates against the poor.
I certainly do hope that the court considers this study when issuing a ruling. Obesity and diabetes are major public health problems in the city of New York as well as in other parts of the U.S., and limiting the sizes of sugar-sweetened drinks is certainly worth trying.
In the meantime, the NYC department of health launched a new ad campaign urging New Yorkers to pay attention to the high sugar content in energy drinks, sports drinks, sweetened teas, and fruit-flavored drinks. While these drinks sound "healthy," many have more sugar than soda. A 20-ounce lemonade, for example, contains 260 calories and 67 grams of sugar. Sugar-sweetened drinks have been associated with weight gain and and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
As the weather gets warmer and while we wait for a ruling from the appellate court, I urge us all to drink more water and pay attention to the sizes of our sugary beverages.
For more by Dr. Lisa Young, click here.
For more on diet and nutrition, click here.