Tag Archives: soda

Soda vs Marijuana – Which Do You Think is Worse?

There’s a chart that has been floating around the Internet for a while comparing various health effects of soda and marijuana. The agenda doesn’t appear to be pro-pot as much as it is pointing out societal hypocrisy and the serious dangers associated with foods most of us have no moral issue with.

I would be the first to get in line with people who think the demonizing of marijuana in Western culture has always been taken to an extreme level. However, if you think it somehow comes without any serious health risks, you need to consider putting the bong down for a moment and read on. Let’s take a look at how soda and marijuana really compare:

Carcinogens – Let’s start with the biggest hole in the chart’s argument: that there are no carcinogens in marijuana. According to Donald Tashkin, MD, a researcher at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes. Inhaling carcinogens for a long period of time can’t be harmless, can it? (more…)

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Jason

5 Tips to Jump Start Your Health

By Dr. Mache Seibel for Care2.com

Ask a person if they want to stay well and in less than a nanosecond you will get a universal, resounding “Yes!”

Then ask if they eat healthy, exercise regularly, incorporate relaxation into their daily routine and get enough sleep. The response is much slower and the percentage saying, “Yes” is a lot lower.

Sure, people want to make changes to improve their health, but changing old habits for newer, healthier ones is hard work. For many, it seems almost impossible. Why else would the average person make the same New Year’s resolution 10 different years without success, or only one in seven people who have had a heart attack make long lasting changes to improve their diet or exercise habits? Don’t you think it is time to take responsibility for your own health?

The trick is to start simple. Small changes can make a big difference. Here are five simple steps you can start doing today to improve your health.

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Posted on September 16, 2025 by GuestBlogger

USDA Rejects Bloomberg’s Food Stamp Soda Ban

pile of tabs from soda or beer cansLast October, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture prevent New York residents from using food stamps to purchase soda and other sugary drinks. On Friday, the USDA rejected the proposal, partly citing the difficulty of sorting out which beverages would and wouldn’t be allowed under the policy.

Dr. Thomas A. Farley, New York City’s health commissioner, said he was “very upset” by the proposal’s rejection, adding that it “really calls into question how serious the USDA is about addressing the nation’s most serious nutritional problem,” reports the New York Times.

The choice was obviously a victory for the soda industry, which lobbied against the proposal. Some advocates for the poor were also against the bill, arguing that forcing food-stamp users to shop differently is a stigmatizing experience. “The whole attempt was misguided and unworkable,” Mr. Berg said. “This proposal was based on the false assumption that poor people were somehow ignorant or culturally deficient.”

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Posted on August 24, 2025 by Health Buzz

Sugar Consumption Decreases as Americans Drink Less Soda

Maybe it was the recession or maybe the public started listening to the health professionals’ pleas, but either way, added sugar consumption has actually decreased in the United States.

Research has been continually held to track the added sugar consumption in this country. These stats refer to extra sugar used to sweeten foods, not naturally occurring sugars like fructose in fruit. One of the biggest culprits of added sugar consumption is found in soda. The quarter drop in sugar consumption was due majorly to the decrease in soda consumption.

The experts believe that the initiatives to remove sodas and sweetened drinks from schools had a large effect on the numbers. Also, the multiple campaigns to make consumers aware of the extreme amounts of sugar in small amounts of soda are believed to have been effective.

The study also leads the experts to believe that people were simply not able to afford as many calories as they were in previous years due to the economy. Hopefully, as the recession ends, this will be one number that will stay low and not increase.

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Posted on August 11, 2025 by Lacy

Black Students Affected More by Soda Ban

A new study is suggesting recent state policies that eliminate junk food from school concessions has been successful, but more so with black students.

Daily soda consumption has dropped twice as much with black students. Overall consumption of soda in the states with junk food bans has dropped by an average of .09 servings of soda each day. However, among black students is dropped .19 servings per day.

“Soda is widely considered to be a contributor to the increase in obesity because it has been associated with excess energy intake and weight gain” wrote the study’s authors. “It became a larger source of energy intake among adolescents during the same period that obesity prevalence increased.” (more…)

Posted on July 26, 2025 by Jason

Conservatives and Liberals Make Different Food Choices

There are many ways that we identify ourselves, and one of our deepest set chosen identities tends to be political beliefs. Self-identified liberals and conservatives (rather than those that identify as “middle of the road”) tend to disagree strongly on a variety of subjects, from the size of government to taxation to gay marriage. A survey of 347, 949 Hunch.com users has identified that those who tend to support liberal or conservative politicians also disagree on what to eat.

Those who identified as liberal seem to be more likely to agree with what they read at DietsInReview. While conservatives were 65 percent more likely to eat fast food a few times per week, liberals were 92 percent more likely to eat fast food rarely or never. When it comes to french fries, conservatives consider McDonald’s the best of the best, while liberals are 64 percent more likely to prefer bistro-type fries.

Similar to their fast food choices, those who identify as conservative were 50 percent more likely to believe there is no significant difference between organic and processed food, while identifying yourself as a liberal makes you 28 percent more likely to disagree. Liberals are 29 percent more likely than conservatives to avoid soda and 27 percent as likely to drink only diet soda when they do. Those who identify as liberal are 28 percent more likely to eat fresh fruit daily, while those who identify as conservative are 35 percent more likely to eat fresh fruit less than once per week.

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Posted on July 11, 2025 by Brooke Randolph

Soda Tax May be Useless Because Obese Prefer Diet

Advocates for taxing unhealthy food as a way of fighting the obesity epidemic may want to reconsider their views, at least in regards to taxing soda.

According to a new Northwestern University study, the main problem lies in the fact that obese people tend to drink diet soda anyway.

“After doing the analysis, it really turns out to be the case that obese people like diet soda so much more than regular soda that you can do whatever you want to the price,” said Ketan Patel, a fourth-year doctoral student in economics at Northwestern. “You’re not going to get that much change in obese people’s weight because they already drink diet soda.”

Patel was initially concerned that maybe people with bad eating habits are not deterred by slight price increases. However, this concern became moot once considering the diet soda factor. (more…)

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Jason

A&W Fast Food Restaurants to Close in 2026

America could possibly bid farewell to an icon this coming year. The fast food restaurant chain A&W is speculated to stop serving burgers and root beer floats in 2026.

Founded in 1919, the restaurant developed the “drive in” format that remains a staple of American fast food even today. Known for its signature root beer and burgers, the company boomed after World War II and over 450 franchises were opened nationwide. However, today there are only 322 operating national stores. The company has been deemed too small to be successful. The soda manufacturing side of the business will remain untouched as Dr.Pepper/Snapple owns the container beverage version of A&W Root Beer.


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Posted on June 29, 2025 by Lacy

KFC’s Sugary Soda Sales Go to Support Diabetes Research

Those of us fighting the good fight against unhealthy diets, obesity, and the ailments they cause did a big palm-to-face smack this week.

A KFC franchise in Utah launched a promotional fundraiser to their patrons. It was advertised that with every $2.99 purchase of a KFC 64-ounce Big Jug drink, $1 would go to the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation.

One has to wonder how that planning meeting was conducted and who was the rising star who came up with this idea. However, the franchise owner has a personal connection to the disease and the promotion did run as advertised.

A spokesperson for the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) responded after the fundraiser received so much attention. It was clarified that the JDRF supports research for type 1 diabetes and not type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease and not an onset disease caused by obesity or consuming too much junk food.

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Posted on June 22, 2025 by Lacy

Teen Soda Consumption is Down

There’s potentially good news in regards to teens and their soda consumption. In 2026, 24 percent of teens in the U.S. drank at least one soda on a daily basis, which was down from 29 percent the previous year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected data on 11,429 high school students from across the country. Each of them filled out a questionnaire.

When other sweetened drinks were considered, the teens who drank at least one of those drinks each day was raised to more than 60 percent. However, even with that sharp rise when considering all sweetened drinks, the number is down from 1999, when it was more than 75 percent.

Now for the potentially bad news…

Since awareness of the health dangers of sweetened drinks has risen over the years, some experts are concerned that teens’ knowledge may have skewed the results, since they could have been deceptive in their answers. Or I say, maybe the movement of removing soda from schools is working. (more…)

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Jason

Reduced Sugar Pepsi Next Hits Stores this Summer

At the Beverage Digest Wall Street Smarts conference yesterday, Massimo d’Amore, CEO, PepsiCo Beverages America confirmed the rumors that Pepsi will be launching a mid-calorie soda. D’Amore described the new beverage as “a next-generation cola” that cuts calories and sugar without sacrificing taste, the major stumbling block for mid-calorie sodas of the past. In 2004, PepsiCo launched the 70-calorie Pepsi Edge, which proved unsuccessful and was pulled from the market in the following year.

“The way we were formulating products 10, 20 years ago is different from how we formulate them today,” said d’Amore. “The sweetener system is different; some of the ingredients are different. It’s a great-tasting product.” He explained that the product has been created for customers who currently drink full-calorie soda, but are looking to cut back on their sugar consumption. The product will be tested in two locations this summer, in Iowa and Wisconsin.

The move may be an attempt to keep consumers from switching from cola to other beverages altogether, as the health problems associated with soda consumption gain more public attention. “When some consumers switch from regular colas, they try diets, don’t like the taste and move on to water or other categories,” John Sicher, Beverage Digest’s editor and publisher, told Advertising Age. “The theory is that a mid-cal can taste better than a diet to some consumers and appeal to consumers who are moving away from the regular brands.”

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Posted on June 14, 2025 by Margaret