Posts Tagged ‘beverage’

How do they come up with these objects of desire? Just as the frenzy over the return of the pumpkin spice latte is waning, Starbucks is ready to line people up for a chestnut praline latte or an eggnog latte topped with freshly ground nutmeg. Can’t you just smell it? It turns out that a […]

Sugar and candy arouse some complicated responses of pleasure and panic in our pleasure-seeking, puritanical nation. The author of a new book on the subject, Samira Kawash, describes a dietary moralism that developed in 19th century America. It held that some foods were “good and godly.” But she said this thinking also provided that: Other […]

The obesity tax is a fact of life. A new publication in the journal Demography paints a stark picture of a tax on earnings and productivity paid by young men with excess weight and obesity. By studying pairs of siblings over time, they find a 16% wage penalty — a tax on earnings, so to speak […]

This week brings more news on the struggle for a healthier food supply and the role of the food industry in bringing change. Yesterday, Judy Woodruff of the PBS NewsHour moderated a discussion with Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The three spent more than […]

A new analysis of potential policies for reducing childhood obesity is generating headlines saying that “Taxing sugary sodas could help fight childhood obesity.” This is one time that the media isn’t hyping what the authors say. In their paper, Kristensen et al follow their hearts and conclude that “a national $0.01/ounce SSB [sugar sweetened beverage] […]

In the midst of a decade of declining soda sales, could it be that Coke is pursuing a harm reduction strategy? Some subtle and even mixed signs suggest that this might be the case. Harm reduction is a public health policy designed to reduce the harmful effects of unhealthy human behaviors. Pragmatists embrace harm reduction while […]

“Him bad, me good, listen to me” is a crude form of argument that surfaces with distressing frequency. Theological discussions about good and evil are hard enough. But when this sort of argumentation creeps into science, nutrition, and obesity, the quality of decision making plummets. To our great disappointment, this is the type of argument […]

Nutrition and dietary advice is a realm where a contest of data v dogma plays out repeatedly. Low-calorie sweetened beverages lie at the center of one such contest. A new study just published in Obesity provides further evidence that low-calorie sweetened beverages can be useful for people who want to achieve and maintain a lower weight. […]

Sports drinks are iconic at athletic events. It’s a great event marketing strategy that supports an incredible range of both spectator and participatory sports. It gives brands like Gatorade a powerful halo of health and fitness. The result is a healthy growth rate of 7% in a market where sugary soft drinks are otherwise declining. This […]

This week brought the news that Coca-Cola will be launching a reduced-sugar version of their iconic brand in the U.K. under the name Coca-Cola Life. Beverage Digest reported that the product will also be introduced into the U.S. market in the same time frame, September or October of this year. Coca-Cola Life was first introduced […]