Yet Another Reason To Avoid Soda

Jeff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:27:14 +0000

As if there could be any more reasons to avoid soda altogether, a recent study conducted by microbioligists from Hollins University discovered that 48% of the soda fountain machines at various restaurants they tested contained coliform bacteria. Pretty gross, huh? Hold on, that’s not even the bad part. This bacteria is typically found in feces. And to make matters worse, this family of bacteria were resistant to the 11 antibiotics tested. The water and ice tested negative, so no one is sure of the source. The scientists’ best guess is that the bacteria have been growing in the plastic tubing that hook to the soda fountains. The findings were published in the International Journal of Microbiology.

One word……nasty.

Sources:

The Huffington Post

ScienceDirect (abstract from study)

ABC News

Soft Drink Tax To Fight Obesity

Jeff — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:34:31 +0000

Some of you may have been reading about this for last few months, but some U.S. officials are proposing an excise tax for sugary soft drinks. Health experts from New York, Yale and Harvard, among others claim current taxes don’t go far enough to curtail abuse of these beverages, which play a key role in the obesity epidemic. They liken these taxes to the taxes currently imposed on tobacco companies. The plan is to add a tax of one cent, per ounce of beverage, which will increase the cost by 15 to 20 percent. The purpose of this is two fold: 1) to generate extra revenue at a federal and state level, which could be use to fund public health efforts (ahem, health care reform), 2) to discourage the over-consumption of these drinks, and hopefully affect obesity rates by decreasing daily caloric intake.

Not surprisingly, a large beverage industry group is vehemently opposed to any such taxes. This group is composed of some familiar names – Welch’s, McDonald’s, Burger King and Pepsi. They acknowledge a serious obesity problem, but argue that more “comprehensive” programs are needed. I actually agree with their contention that more complete solutions are needed to fight obesity, but taxing crappy drinks/food is a decent start as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure junk/processed/fast food is in the crosshairs as well. Stay tuned.

Source: Reuters

Child Obesity Considered Child Neglect

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Yet Another Reason To Avoid Soda

Soft Drink Tax To Fight Obesity