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Lifestyle

Soda May Soon Require a Warning Label

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: most of us know by now that soda isn’t exactly a health food. But soon, soda may come with a safety warning label, much like the ones on cigarettes.

What will it say, exactly? Something along the lines of:  “WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.” Oof.

soda

Photo courtesy of well.blogs.nytimes.com

A bill to try this out was unanimously passed in San Francisco in June of 2015. Their warning stated: “Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.”

Unsurprisingly, big soda companies got pissed and sued within a month, claiming it “violated core First Amendment Principles.” Predictable.

soda

Photo courtesy of publichealthadvocacy.org

Apparently, similar bills have been proposed in NYC. Studies have shown the warning label has noticeable impacts. For example, fewer parents bought soda for their kids when soda had labels compared to when it did not.

Would you still drink soda if it came with a warning label? If so, you should probably know about this ingredient. For now, I think we’ll stick to water.

Katherine has been involved with Spoon since the early days of the NYU chapter. She continued to write for Spoon while earning her master's degree in human nutrition at Columbia University and authored the Spoon Guide to Healthier 2016. Katherine likes to avoid wearing real pants, hanging out with her rescue pup Millie, drinking iced coffee in all 4 seasons, and baking vegan treats (yes, Baker is her last name). Katherine is now a student at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and learns about how climate change impacts human health and nutrition (#school5ever). Hit her up on Insta (@katherinebaker4) and kbaked.com for more #relatablecontent.