Coke Didn't Make America Fat

[Mr. Sparkle]

Coke Didn't Make America Fat

By MUHTAR KENT

Obesity is a complex issue, and addressing it is important for all Americans. We at the Coca-Cola company are committed to working with government and health organizations to implement effective solutions to address this problem.

But a number of public-health advocates have already come up with what they think is the solution: heavy taxes on some routine foods and beverages that they have decided are high in calories. The taxes, the advocates acknowledge, are intended to limit consumption of targeted foods and help you to accept the diet that they have determined is best.

In cities and states across America—and even at the federal level—this idea is getting increased attention despite its regressive nature and inherent illogic.

While it is true that since the 1970s Americans have increased their average caloric intake by 12%, they also have become more sedentary. According to the National Center for Health Statistics 2008 Chartbook, 39% of adults in the U.S. are not engaging in leisure physical activity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 60% of Americans are not regularly active and 25% of Americans are not active at all. The average American spends the equivalent of 60 days a year in front of a television, according to a 2008 A.C. Nielsen study. This same research data show that the average time spent playing video games in the U.S. went up by 25% during the last four years.

If we're genuinely interested in curbing obesity, we need to take a hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that it's not just about calories in. It's also about calories out.

Our industry has become an easy target in this debate. Sugar-sweetened beverages have been singled out in spite of the fact that soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened bottled water combined contribute 5.5% of the calories in the average American diet, according to the National Cancer Institute. It's difficult to understand why the beverages we and others provide are being targeted as the primary cause of weight gain when 94.5% of caloric intake comes from other foods and beverages.

Those pushing for this tax lack some essential facts, not to mention some basic common sense. Over the past 20 years, the average caloric content of soft drinks has dropped by nearly 25%. This is due in large part to a determined focus by our company and others on the diet/light category with brands like Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Powerade Zero. Even soft drinks with sugar, like Coca-Cola, contain no more calories (140 calories in a can) than some common snacks, breakfast foods and most desserts served up daily in millions of American homes. And while obesity rates have skyrocketed, sales of regular soft drinks decreased by nearly 10% from 2000 to 2008, according to the industry publication Beverage Digest.

So where are all of the extra calories in the American diet coming from? Research from the United States Department of Agriculture shows that added sugars, as a percentage of total daily available calories, have declined 11% since 1970. Yet the percent of calories from added fats and flour/cereal products has increased 35% and 13%, respectively, during that same time period.

Will a soft drink tax change behavior? Two states currently have a tax on sodas—West Virginia and Arkansas—and they are among the states with the highest rates of obesity in the nation.

Obesity is a serious problem. We know that. And we agree that Americans need to be more active and take greater responsibility for their diets. But are soft drinks the cause? I would submit to you that they are no more so than some other products—and a lot less than many, many others.

As a leader in our industry, we have a role to play in solving this issue. Globally, we have led the industry for nearly 30 years with innovations across the diet and light beverage categories. Today, more than 25% of our global beverage portfolio is comprised of low- or no-calorie beverages.

Policy makers should stop spending their valuable time demonizing an industry that directly employs more than 220,000 people in the U.S., and through supporting industries, an additional three million. Instead, business and government should come together to help encourage greater physical activity and sensible eating and drinking, while allowing Americans to enjoy the simple pleasure of a Coca-Cola.

Mr. Kent is CEO of the Coca-Cola Company.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574455464120581696.html

[emulatorloo]

1. Well, Mr. Kent could do his part by using sugar rather than High Fructose Corn Syrup

The body can process sugar a lot better than high fructose corn syrup.

[JuniperLea]

3. Good point...

It's more expensive, but they can charge more... they up the price every year anyway.

[TheWraith]

8. And it's reputed to taste better.

Sugar-based Coke was before my time, and I don't really drink cola anyway, but that's what I consistently hear from people who'd know.

[Captain Hilts]

10. It certainly does. With a squeeze of lime. nt

[SharonAnn]

15. That's why some here go to Mexican stores to buy Mexican Coca-Cola.

[GoCubsGo]

19. Empty calories are empty calories....

It doesn't matter whether they come from cane sugar or HFCS. It doesn't matter if the body can process once sugar better than the other, when either way, you are still drinking liquid candy. Not arguing against getting HCFS out of our food supply or defending Kent. But, I know people who guzzle liters and liters of the full-sugar stuff every day. They complain about the taste of diet drinks, and refuse to drink them They won't touch water. Or, if they do, it has to be the flavored and sugar-laded "vitamin water" type drink. I also cannot tell you how many people I see in the gym guzzling Gatorade, which is full of sugar. Most of them are not working out hard enough to need any sort of electrolyte drink. And, don't even get me started on "juice" and "juice packs". If that kind of crap is all you drink, it doesn't matter what kind of sugar sweetens it. You can switch to Jones Sodas, but if you drink a Big Gulp-size portion a day of the stuff, you are still going to become obese. Just saying...

Soft drinks are supposed to be a treat, not the main source of your fluid intake. Unfortunately, for many, that is what they have become. In that regard, Kent is correct. Of course, he's not much better than a drug dealer, considering the effort his company goes through to push its products on us.

[JuniperLea]

2. Well, thank you Coca-Cola! You've changed my mind!

Pft...

When Coke is no longer in the game for the money, I'll believe their little studies.

[bbernardini]

4. Well, it certainly helped me along...

Since I left my previous teaching job for my new one, I've lost access to unlimited free Coca-Cola. I've also lost approx. 10-15 pounds in the last month or so. I suspect there's a connection here. :)

[damntexdem]

5. Not Coke alone; but it strongly contributed.

And it is part of an industry that has created the pandemic.

[donco6]

6. Wow, so that Big Gulp permanently attached to people's hand makes no difference?

Who'da thunk it?

[Arctic Dave]

7. Coke and Hostess did. They have been in cahoots for years.

Would coke taste the same with half the sugar? Or a Twinkie?

[tomm2thumbs]

9. the bullet didn't kill him...

it was the fact the skin didn't get out of the way fast enough that did it. No wait, it was the gun's fault. If that darn gun hadn't caused that poor bullet to fly out at such speed, it would have been fine. Well, actually, thinking about it, I guess it is really the finger's fault. That gun and bullet were sitting there minding their own business when that nasty old finger came along and set them off, and how.

Okay, so my point? Maybe Coke isn't the only culprit, but it is one of them. And definitely glucose sweetening imho.

I don't see water companies having to write defensive letters like that.
I wonder why.

[noel711]

11. To say Coke doesn't make you fat... bad argument

In a perfect world, nothing really makes one fat.

It's the combinations of many other things that alter
the human body.

The problem is that Coca Cola, and many soft drinks
have replace healthier beverages in the lives of many,
especially children. I used to teach school, and most
of the kids in our school skipped the milk or juices,
and went straight for the sodas.

In the lives of poorer people, limited resources
are spent on what is available, and inexpensive.
Sodas are a huge part of their diet, along with fast foods
because that is what is available.

One of the severest problems in inner cities,
and in rural areas like Appalachia?
Dental problems brought on by poor eating habits,
drinking sodas instead of healthier beverages,
and lack of dental and health care.

Sodas, treats, and convenience foods are not the
staff of life. But our bizarre economic system
prevents poorer people from obtaining healthy foods,
and thus they depend on what they can get.

When I was a kid, back in the dark ages,
soda was not in our home every day.
My dad would sometimes bring a case of soda pop
home for a weekend, and we could have a bottle
as a treat... after we ate our real meal.
Today its on the table of every meal,
even breakfast.

I don't see the problem with taxing it.
But as a nation we need to review how we
provide poorer people with available and
healthy foods.

[kimmerspixelated]

16. So true. Great reply!

Same in our house. Dr. Pepper was not part of the dinner table. And it certainly was never for breakfast!

[Tutankhamun]

12. Soda is a big part of the obesity epidemic.

There was a study released a few months ago that showed some alarming results. People who added calories into their diet by drinking soda instead of water didn't compensate by lowering their caloric intake in solid food. In other words, people who consume 2500 calories a day but drink no soda will still consume that same amount of calories, plus the soda calories if they start drinking soda.

Drinking soda regularly is sheer lunacy. People just don't think about what they're doing when they choose their beverages. Coca Cola, to a lot of people, has an aura of being all-American, wholesome and even patriotic. Years of brilliant advertising and marketing have helped cause a lot of obesity and consequent despair.

"Have a Coke and a smile" is a wonderful kitzchy little piece of irony.

[Tutankhamun]

13. This essay is also bullshit because Mr. Kent, Coca Cola CEO didn't write it.

His PR people wrote it and he put his name on it.

[Union Yes]

14. Fiber free empty sugary calories can contribute more to obesity than eating a slab of animal fat.

Whether it be plain sugar or high fructose corn sweetner.

The reason is that empty calories make up a huge part of our diet and are cheap and readily available.

Meat is becoming an ever increasing expense.

Compare meat and fat intake from eating meat to the rest of the typical American diet and it's easy to see that so many calories come from eating white flour, white rice, sugar, high fructose corn starch.

We're an overweight nation because of our addiction to fiber free sugary and fatty foods. Those foods almost always share similar traits. They tend to be highly processed.

[conscious evolution]

17. Then why did they lie to the public

about why they changed recipes back in the 80's?
If HFCS is so safe why did they roll out that new coke line to hide the change.
One other thing-Will you ever release that study that sits in your vault that shows a link between HFCS and ADD/ADHD?

[PaulaFarrell]

18. Sure did rots its teeth though n/t