San Francisco Soda Tax Takes Aim at Sugary Drinks

We’re super proud to see our home city of San Francisco taking a stand against soda and sugary beverages and recognizing their role in the rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The problem is that soda and other sweetened drinks are the largest single source of added sugar in the American diet, containing absolutely zero nutritional value. People who drink soda also don’t feel as full as if they had eaten the same number of calories from food, and research has found that the rising consumption of sugary drinks has been a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. This is a distressing fact when 32% of children and adolescents in San Francisco are obese or overweight, and at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, depression, and other issues.

San Francisco’s proposed soda tax would add 2 cents per ounce to the cost of soda, energy drinks, and other sugar-sweetened drinks that contain more than 25 calories. Diet sodas and naturally sweetened drinks with juice will not be included. In San Francisco, decreasing the consumption of soda could mean better health outcomes as well as, very importantly, an increased $31 million per year raised from the tax that will be spent on improving school lunch programs, physical education, and food access across the city. If you live in or near the Bay Area, we encourage you to learn more and get involved – they would also appreciate support from any location, since obesity and diabetes are an issue everywhere in the US and across the world. Do you have an opinion on this? We’d love to know reader sentiments – please email us here and let us know your thoughts. –NL/KC