Soda Bans in Schools Have Limited Impact

[alp227]

State laws that ban soda in schools — but not other sweetened beverages — have virtually no impact on the amount of sugary drinks middle school students buy and consume at school, a new study shows.

The study, which looked at thousands of public school students across 40 states, found that removing soda from cafeterias and school vending machines only prompted students to buy sports drinks, sweetened fruit drinks and other sugar-laden beverages instead. In states that banned only soda, students bought and consumed sugary drinks just as frequently at school as their peers in states where there were no bans at all.

The study is among the first to directly examine the extent to which state policies on soda in schools influence students’ behavior. With obesity on the rise and teenagers getting about 15 percent of their daily calories from beverages, health groups like the Institute of Medicine have pushed for the removal of all sweetened beverages from schools, and some states have put in place all-out bans on sweetened drinks. California, for example, became the first state to ban the sale of soft drinks in grade schools, in 2003, and one city, Boston, moved earlier this year to forbid the sale and promotion of sugar-sweetened beverages and sodas on all city property.

full: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/soda-bans-in-schools-have-limited-benefit/

Oh, parents could also buy soda/sugary drinks and have their children bring the drink, too. Like the lady in that Americans Against Food Taxes commercial.

[Fumesucker]

1. I'm sure the kids will be much better off consuming aspartame than sugar.. n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

2. They shouldn't sell sodas at school.

We had water fountains and we had milk at lunch time. I don't recall a single instance where someone didn't get enough to drink.

[bluestateguy]

3. They just bring the soda from home

I guess politicians and dumbass school administrators could not figure that out.

[Xithras]

4. Yep, that's exactly what happened at my kids schools.

I live in California, where sodas were recently banned from schools by law. Not only did a large number of the kids simply start bringing their own, but according to my two teenagers, there's now a flourishing black market in the schools for soda. Some kids actually toss a bunch of them in their backpacks every morning and sell them at lunch for a few bucks each. One of my sons best friends makes about $10 a day from soda sales ($10 a day is pretty good money when you're 14). Their school tried to put the kibosh on it, but quickly realized that it was an impossible task (and they really lacked any legal authority to do so anyway).

So the kids aren't any healthier, and the school loses funds. At my kids high school, the two soda machines were owned by the school marching band. The band kids kept the machines stocked and running, and 100% of its profits went back to the band to fund uniforms, instruments, and travel expenses. We're not talking about pocket change either...the band used to take in several thousand dollars a year from those machines. When the law prohibited schools from selling soda, the machines came out, and the band kids (literally) went begging. Everyone else still gets their soda, and the profit now flows into the pockets of private businesses and opportunistic students.

[Chipper Chat]

5. Pepsi, Coke, et al. are not "sugared drinks."

They are sweetened with corn syrup which is banned in several countries. It is nasty stuff. It has an unpleasant aftertaste which I detected immediately when soft drink companies switched from cane sugar in the 80s. Recently I've been searching out Pepsi Throwback, Mexican Coke, Dublin Dr. Pepper, or wince and buy the expensive Jones Cola from Canada (their root beer is phenomenal). But.........I thought the ban was stupid. Especially since Ocean Spray drinks have as many if not more calories that a Coke. And sports drinks still have unanswered questions about their safety.