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The Decline of 'Big Soda': Is Drinking Soda the New Smoking?
HughPickens.com writes: Margot Sanger-Katz reports in the NYT that soda consumption is experiencing a serious and sustained decline as sales of full-calorie soda in the United States have plummeted by more than 25 percent over the past twenty years. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are actively trying to avoid the drinks that have been a mainstay of American culture but bottled water is now on track to overtake soda as the largest beverage category in two years. The changing patterns of soda drinking appear to come thanks, in part, to a loud campaign to eradicate sodas. School cafeterias and vending machines no longer contain regular sodas. Many workplaces and government offices have similarly prohibited their sale.
For many public health advocates, soda has become the new tobacco — a toxic product to be banned, taxed and stigmatized. "There will always be soda, but I think the era of it being acceptable for kids to drink soda all day long is passing, slowly," says Marion Nestle. "In some socioeconomic groups, it's over." Soda represents nearly 25% of the U.S. beverage market and its massive scale have guaranteed profit margins for decades. Historically, beverage preferences are set in adolescence, the first time that most people begin choosing and buying a favorite brand. But the declines in soda drinking appear to be sharpest among young Americans. "Kids these days are growing up with all of these other options, and there are some parents who say, 'I really want my kids to drink juice or a bottled water,' " says Gary A. Hemphill. "If kids grow up without carbonated soft drinks, the likelihood that they are going to grow up and, when they are 35, start drinking is very low."
For many public health advocates, soda has become the new tobacco — a toxic product to be banned, taxed and stigmatized. "There will always be soda, but I think the era of it being acceptable for kids to drink soda all day long is passing, slowly," says Marion Nestle. "In some socioeconomic groups, it's over." Soda represents nearly 25% of the U.S. beverage market and its massive scale have guaranteed profit margins for decades. Historically, beverage preferences are set in adolescence, the first time that most people begin choosing and buying a favorite brand. But the declines in soda drinking appear to be sharpest among young Americans. "Kids these days are growing up with all of these other options, and there are some parents who say, 'I really want my kids to drink juice or a bottled water,' " says Gary A. Hemphill. "If kids grow up without carbonated soft drinks, the likelihood that they are going to grow up and, when they are 35, start drinking is very low."
bottled water is now on track to overtake soda as the largest beverage category in two years.
Everyone should note that for the most part bottled water is just "tap water" that has been filtered. At $1 plus a bottle (plus the almost always not recycled plastic bottle), why don't people just get a Britta filter for home or office? Filtered tap water is now more expensive than soda!
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Now they are bottling municipal water supply and selling it at the same price as soda. No need to guard recipes, no need to worry about making concentrates... Their profit margin has increased despite the decrease in soda consumption.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
When you pry it from my cold dead hands.
... the trunks of police cars. According to widely circulated "facts" about cola one thing I still remember is, "Every police car in America has a two liter bottle of coke in their trunks. It is the best thing to dissolve blood stains off asphalt" and "put a chicken bone into a bottle of coke, and it will dissolve completely in six days"
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Cola is hardly the only way to get caffeine.
The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
"There will always be soda, but I think the era of it being acceptable for kids to drink soda all day long is passing, slowly," says Marion Nestle.
Hmmm, last name Nestle... does she by any chance have a bias toward chocolately drinks?
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
I am happy as long at keeps people from spitting half swallowed soda in my face at meal times and other social gatherings.
Weird to see people complaining about sugar but switching to fruit juice, though. Many if not most fruit juices have a higher sugar concentration than coke.
Now, that's only from the sugar perspective. Caffeine has its good and bad sides, so if one wants to cut down, there's that. Phosphoric acid may or may not have a negative effect on bone density (lower bone density is associated with soda consumption but there's dispute over whether it's the phosphoric acid or just the aforementioned caffeine). Fruit juices have vitamins and minerals that most colas won't. But really, the biggest health issue with colas is the sugar, and one may actually increase their sugar intake by switching to juice.
The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
In other news, Energy Drink sales are surging with the younger crowds!
How hard can it be for soda companies to figure that out.
$2.79 for a drink for a meal that costs $8???
McDonalds has the right idea.
Same thing in the stores. Coke seems to want $4.50/12 pack these days. Other brands want $3.00. So I don't buy coke products anymore even tho I love coke products.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
When people drink soda, they don't blow toxic and disgusting smelling fumes into people's walkways, they don't leave butts all over the ground, and they don't return from a smoke break smelling like an ashtray.
Chuck, I'm going with, "No, drinking soda isn't the new smoking."
When you inject government into healthcare, then anything you do which affects (or is thought to affect by some "expert") healthcare costs becomes the business of government. Why do you think the government just required all physicians to switch to a new set of tens of thousands of medical codes??? Now, when somebody gets medical treatment for a dog bite, the government will get the stats on not just the total number of dogbites, but it will be broken-down by breed. There is NO REASON to waste time and resources collecting data with this granularity if the information will not be used. This data will enable regulations.
Government healthcare involves government, which is run by politicians who are obviously political, therefore it becomes political. It is impossible to control the costs of things which are political, because special interests always interfere to block the best controls. The politicians therefore, in a need to try to sustain such systems, will grasp at the things they can manage to do which will tend to be annoyances to the masses rather than big things that affect particular narrow interest groups. Thus, cigarettes, sodas, and burgers will be attacked to some degree, but not pot or vodka or steak etc depending on the political "heat" that will result (mostly among the political donor class) rather than on actual science. Oh, and individual liberty will have to be jettisoned; the people cannot be left to make their own decisions about their own lives.
This language is being hyperboled away as we speak; the meaning of words are inflated away. A 25% decrease over 20 years? That's an annual decrease of a measly 1.1%! What's the word then to use for what happened to the Volkswagen stock?
Nah, the expression to be used would be: 'slowly eroding, culminating in a 25% decrease over the past 20 years that some observers[who?] consider significant.'
Shudders why? Unless you have phenylketonuria, it's not relevant, and if you do, then it's just one entry in a long list of things you should probably avoid. Aspartame decomposes in the digestive system to aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. The amount of methanol is comparable to that in wines and fruit juices, the aspartic acid is far lower than is found in most dietary sources, and the phenylalanine is comparable to common dietary sources and less than many phenylalanine-rich dietary sources.
The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
Most fruit juices have a lot of sugar. Fruit contains a lot of fructose, water, and fiber. So squeeze out the water that contains the fructose, the fiber gets left behind, and you have something that is by volume and weight a tons of sugar.
Apple juice is a good example. If you go and have a look at the Simply Apple stuff at a grocer you can see easily. It really is 100% pure apple juice. They don't add any sweetener or anything else, they just squeeze the juice out of apple and bottle that shit up... and it is as high calorie as soda. 180 calories per 12 oz (355ml). For comparison Pepsi is 150 and Mountain Dew is 170.
I love apple juice, it tastes fantastic, but you can't fool yourself in to thinking that because it is juice it is magically good.
I heard sitting at your desk instead of doing a standing desk is the new smoking.
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...but I drink club soda, all the bubbles, none of the sugar, acid or caffeine.
Mostly random stuff.
I just finished installing a 6 head soft drink fountain dispenser next to the playroom. It's gonna be carbonated drinks as far as the eye can see.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I don't drink water, I drink a mixture of 50% pop (Mt Dew, Mello Yello or sun drop) and 50% Gator Ade (Lemon-Lime)
I hope so, since so few "colas" have any cola nut in them. They're just malt or prune sodas with lots of "flavorings."
Real colas are often low caffeine, like an old-fashioned root beer.
Fructose sweetener. Forget it.
Switch back to cane sugar. Fuck the sugar cartel. Throw them all in prison.
Have gnu, will travel.
Get real and get a life your pathetic socialist loser!!!! Busy bodies with nothing to do with their pathetic lives but to wine about some one else's lifestyle. Go smoke your dope, drink your little drink, and dance the night away rather than piss on yourself with crap like this.
Shudders why?
Because they all taste terrible.
Required reading for internet skeptics
Since no one else has mentioned it.
Most sodas are better flat than they are fizzy. Imho.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
I woudn't at all be surprised if drinking sugary sodas is the number one cause of diabetes. Additionally, most artificial sweeteners really aren't all that great for you, either, if for no other reason than they don't break you of the habit of drinking sweet drinks all the time. People who live that way need to bite the bullet and drink nothing but WATER (the kind out of the tap that's free, not stupid overpriced bottled water!) for at least a year. Then they can have a soda once in a while.. assuming it's cane sugar-sweetened, not HFCS, not aspartame, not sucralose. In my opinion, stevia is OK, but as with most things YMMV. But everyone needs to get out of the habit of swilling sodas all the time and drink WATER instead. You'll be healthier and happier in the long run, and have more money in your pocket, too. In my opinion.
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The nannystate regulators who ban soda because of the high calories are curiously prone to carve out exceptions for drinks containing dairy. They're very concerned about the health of those other people drinking cokes from large cups, but not about to start interfering with their own consumption of ridiculously high calorie Starbucks coffee-based concoctions. It's a class based prejudice, the wrong sorts of people can't be trusted to organize their own affairs while us enlightened folks need no restrictions whatever. As always with the leftists, it's about control, not about health.
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
I hate when I am grabbing a snack and it comes with a "free" drink and that drink turns out to be pop. So yes I pretty much see it as getting a free "gift" with some purchase and it turns out to be cigarettes. I am insulted when people on the street ask if I have a cigarette, and I am insulted when I tell guests to grab anything they want out of my fridge and they then ask if I have pop. I have to restrain myself from saying, "Do I look like an idiot?"
So while I never thought about it pop is sort of the new cigarette, except that I don't care if other people in the theater/plane/street/etc are drinking it. In that way, to each their own.
Right now, it's just the in thing to avoid soda. The pre-teens and teens I see who tell you they "don't drink that stuff" are the same ones buying up those nasty tasting "energy drinks" chock full of caffeine and all sorts of other chemicals.
Anything you eat or drink too much of can be bad for you. The people I knew who'd wind up with a huge tower of empty soda cans in their cubicle at work, for example? Probably wasn't doing them much good, health-wise.
But honestly, I'm already well into my 40's and am one of those people who gets a fountain soda pretty often at the gas station, or with lunch or dinner when I go out. I occasionally buy a 2 liter of Pepsi or Dr. Pepper or something to drink at home too. I've been doing this since I was a teenager. Can't really say I've had any negative heath effects from it, so far. And I'm getting to the age where stuff starts going wrong, regardless. So I expect someone will blame my thumb that keeps popping out of its joint on the soda drinking or who knows what.... But hey, I don't smoke and really cut back on drinking alcohol since my late 20's.
Personally, I'd trust any of the sodas with real cane sugar in them more than these artificially sweetened low-cal/no cal drinks and/or the energy drinks on the market.
I like soda and smoking. Problem?
Only if you try to smoke soda.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
http://www.nature.com/news/sug...
Now kids are drinking 'energy drinks'. Not sure if this is an improvement or not. On a side note, soda isn't really that bad, it's just that they give such gigantic amounts of it to you now. I wish my company vending machine would just vend a can of coke, rather than the giant 1/2 liter bottles. And god help you if you order a 'large' soda at any place now days...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Soda is not expensive enough for the hipster crowd. Why drink 12 ounce cans of Coca-Cola that can be bought in bulk for $0.35 a can when you can instead buy 1.93 ounce 5 hour energy in bulk for only $1.98. That is almost 50 times as much per ounce, so it appeals to the hipster. Or, if they want to appear to be drinking LARGE expensive drinks, then they drink 16 ounce Monster energy drinks available for $1.42 per can, which is still acceptable for hipsters because it is 3 times as expensive as soda. For the pretentious health nut hipster, nothing will do but bottled water, which is unfortunately only 25% more expensive than soda, but the fact that it it healthy makes up for it to the hipster. The fact that the plastic ends up in a landfill is not the hipsters problem.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
... why do these stories endlessly conflate sugared and diet sodas?
But really, the biggest health issue with colas is the sugar, and one may actually increase their sugar intake by switching to juice.
But as an in-group marker, juice is da bomb.
I stopped drinking soda years ago. Very rarely touch juice either. I don't see what is healthy about juice. I only drink bottled water when I am out and about and in need of a drink. Occasionally spending 100 JPY on a bottle of icy water from a vending machine does not seem too excessive given the summers here in Japan.
Hmm, I get crappy fake versions of the pop I like after buying some machine and shooting spritz that my grandfather used to have in a fancy glass bottle.
You'd have to drink a *whole lot* of pop to make that worthwhile, and I suspect if you do you could get bulk purchases of coke for even less.
Seriously, how did that become a thing?
My favorite nutjobs are those that are scared of HFCS. It's glucose bound to fructose. Your body processes it into... glucose and fructose.
You get into trouble when you take in too much of it, in the *exact* same way you'd get into trouble if you sat there and ate handfuls of cane sugar every day.
Just eat less of the stuff. A coke every now and then won't kill you.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
The problem with artificial sweeteners is not how they break down. The problem is that they do such a good job of faking sugar that the body is fooled and doses insulin accordingly. Which leads to long-term inflammation, insulin resistance, and all kinds of other issues. And it's made worse by the fact that the glycemic imbalance causes cravings, which lead people to consume more sugar (or fake sugar).
I'm not saying people should drink a 12-pack of Mountain Dew when they wake up in the morning, but drinking diet soda isn't much better in the long run.
lucm, indeed.
Weird to see people complaining about sugar but switching to fruit juice, though. Many if not most fruit juices have a higher sugar concentration than coke.
Now, that's only from the sugar perspective. Caffeine has its good and bad sides, so if one wants to cut down, there's that. Phosphoric acid may or may not have a negative effect on bone density (lower bone density is associated with soda consumption but there's dispute over whether it's the phosphoric acid or just the aforementioned caffeine). Fruit juices have vitamins and minerals that most colas won't. But really, the biggest health issue with colas is the sugar, and one may actually increase their sugar intake by switching to juice.
I've taken to mixing 1/3 juice with 2/3 water. Get some nutrients, hydration, and less fructose.
*chuckles* Off-topic? Me? Ha! Surely you jest. That's my default state. I don't mind the moderation (not even a little) but it's unlikely to curb my behavior any. You're probably more likely to actually help people by reserving your moderation points for others (both positive and negative) as I am unlikely to be affected. It'd probably take some work to lower my karma rating from the 'excellent' status (which, considering how off-topic I am - constantly, is kind of surprising) or anything.
However, I think I'll use this as an opportunity to point out the futility of the system and I'll just post with my Karma Bonus. See? Now you have something new to mark as off-topic. That'll keep you amused for a few minutes.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Some of the sweet alcohols, like inositol, taste quite good. They're just too expensive to use as a replacement for large quantities of sugar.
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my kid mostly drinks water and occasionally Starbucks coffee flavored shakes ( I refuse to call them 'coffee'). Even the Starbucks is occasional. Once in a blue moon lemonade.
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Pass the word. Bottled water is such a useless waste of money & resources.
I also now use green tea bags with my old Southern sweet tea recipe.
Sugar tax and associated propaganda is all about a few mega-corps trying to tie up the food industry. Beteen sugar aspartame and sacharin, natural sugars are the lesser (and tastier) evil.
This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer
Stop Smoking first, then we can talk about other stuff like soda.
Personally I would like to stop all artificially carbonated drinks. The fizziness is annoying. And if you ever have tasted a de-carbonated drink you will realize just how shitty the stuff you drink really is.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Bottled water has some serious upsides:
1- Uniform taste. If you have bottled water of a certain brand in one place, it will almost always taste the same in another.
2- No local skunk. If you are in a place where the water might upset your stomach (say on travel), or just in a place where the water, while fine, is unpalatable (sup, Jacksonville!), then you don't have to worry about any of that with bottled water.
3- Because of the high profit margin, it's available and well maintained. The hotel with the skeezy water fountain and off tasting tap water will have a well lit and presented Aquafina / Dasani / whatever machine down the hall, always with plenty of product.
When I'm at home I drink tapwater, sometimes filtered, most often not. When I'm travelling, bottled water is a huge saver of effort and way to minimize risk.
Would "substantial decrease" make you feel better?
How would you characterise a 25% drop in your take-home pay over the same period?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
It's a resealable glass of clean water that you can buy anywhere and carry in your pocket.
Saying "it makes no sense whatsoever to buy bottled water... For people who live in first-world countries with proper sanitation and water treatment"...
It is like saying the same thing about cloth handkerchiefs vs. paper tissues or paper towels vs. cloth towels.
With proper sanitation - why not just wash your ass and use a cloth towel afterwards instead of toilet paper?
You can take it with you everywhere, in a small plastic box.
And if a toilet has no bidet attachment, just use that bottled water to wash your ass.
I'm only half joking here. It is all perfectly doable. Have done it on camping and such.
Apart from carrying a towel with me. No, I don't hitchhike.
But doing all that to avoid toilet paper or paper tissues would be rather inconvenient on a regular basis.
Same as having MY dedicated 20$ aluminum-whatever-alloy water bottle I'd keep forgetting, losing or lugging around when I don't need or don't want to be lugging it around (i.e. when I need my hands or pockets free or busy with something else).
I've refilled my store-bought water bottle with local tap water IF it was good (where I live it really isn't) but then I'd just dump the bottle in the trash when I don't need it anymore.
Convenience. Of use and disposal. Plus a guaranteed clean source of drinkable water.
Available at every news stand kiosk.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Bingo. Damn, wish I had mod points today.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The tap water network is controlled far more often for contaminant. Bottled water company not so. So they could get pristine tap water and get it contaminated by various stuff during the bottling process.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/7763038/Bottled-water-contains-more-bacteria-than-tap-water.html
Tap water , at least in europe and presumably the US, is more secure than bottled water.
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A slow, gradual decline, obviously! 25% in one year would be a plummet. Draw the graph with pct as Y, years as X if you can't visualize it mentally.
That is wrong, only zero sugar cokes have less sugar than a fruit juice.
No idea why people like you claim this nonsense.
Orange juice e.g. has less then half the fructose a coke has (does not matter which brand).
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
1) adding CO2 to water turns it into an acid- carbonic acid- which is bad for the teeth because it demineralizes (dissolves) tooth enamel.
2) most sodas contain additional phosphoric acid- the same stuff dentists use to etch teeth to help composite restorative materials bond to the teeth
3) the sugar in soda feeds the bacteria in the mouth. The bacteria cling to the teeth in biofilms that must be removed by mechanical actions of brushing and flossing. Many of the bacteria that live in the mouth convert sugar into lactic acid which, like soda, dissolves the enamel on the teeth. Eventually anaerobic bacteria move in to the newly created environment and invade the soft tissue and bone. This is when teeth start getting loose and breath smells like death.
4) minerals in the saliva can harden on the teeth (calculus) above and below the gum line and can't be removed by brushing and flossing- they must be removed by a hygienist with steel bladed instruments, sometimes with ultrasonic assistance. Calculus is porous and is like a high rise condo for bacteria- party all the time! Everyone should see a hygienist regularly to keep calculus build up under control.
5) sugar is high in non nutritive calories which contributes to obesity.
6) a huge number of health problems are related to obesity including type II diabetes, cardiovascular problems, joint problems, etc.
7) "sports" drinks are as bad for the teeth as soda.
8) "Mountain Dew Mouth" is indistinguishable from "Meth Mouth", probably because the condition is largely caused by meth users consuming large amounts of candy and soda because it's easier, faster, and cheaper than cooking/eating proper food and well, you know, food costs money that could be spent on more meth...
9) Keeping teeth healthy is important for maintaining overall health and quality of life. When you lose teeth your ability to chew food properly before swallowing is diminished. Poor chewing performance leads to poor digestive performance. Lose enough teeth and you're stuck eating soft foods that you can mash with your tongue. Dentures help, but they are prosthetics- like an artificial leg, and a poor substitute for the real thing when it comes to function. Imagine spending the last 30 years or so of your life unable to eat the things you like to eat. What will a diet of spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and apple sauce do to your disposition and overall health?
10) Your immune system helps control bacterial populations in the mouth, but in diabetics the immune response is lessened by the disease so it becomes even more important for diabetics who want to keep their teeth to step up their self care and see professionals regularly. It is extremely important to monitor your blood sugar and take your medications as instructed by your physician/endocrinologist.
11) Smoking is bad for the teeth. Nicotine causes the small blood vessels that carry immune system components to constrict, reducing blood flow to the teeth, gums and surrounding bone. The bad bacteria freely invade the soft tissues and bone and before you know it, you start losing teeth. Smoking makes the breath stink and stains teeth. It is a filthy habit. Chewing tobacco is just disgusting and equally bad for the teeth. Any form of tobacco use delivers carcinogens to the soft tissues in the mouth and can lead to oral cancer, a particularly disfiguring form of cancer.
Please reduce or stop soda/sports drink consumption and drink more water, quit smoking or chewing tobacco, brush and floss as instructed by your dentist, and see the dentist/hygienist regularly for maintenance. Your life will be a more pleasant experience, guaranteed.
Because bottled water is a standard quantity of packaged, sealed, and tested water. Unlike water you package up yourself with your Britta filter, you can safely store bottled water for a long time (until the "Use By" date). Water you bottle yourself, you can at most keep for six months, and even that only if you do everything right.
Yes, even the US government recommends bottled water for that reason: http://www.ready.gov/water
It would be a trade description failure if anyone tried to sell tap water as mineral water.
True, so you know what they do? They call it 'spring water' which is far less regulated.
It is completely intellectually dishonest to the point of a LIE to assert that water delivered via a sterile, new, plastic container is the equivalent of what runs through the often old, sometimes lead, sometimes infused with bacteria and sediments stuff tossed through underground lines prone to breakage and then on premise, subject to the neglectful landlord's, and cheap ass developer's habits.
How do you think the tap water got to the company who put it in the bottles? It goes through those exact same pipes.
Who pays $1.00 or more per bottle? At my local supermarket I can buy 35 * 1liter bottles for $2.79US (just under $0.08 per bottle).
I used to drink soft drinks. Then they added all of this corn syrup and removed the sugar. Now it tastes like crap.
I wonder how much this has contributed to the decline of "big soda"?
When I was a kid, I thought my parents were cheap, avoiding juice and watering it down. Now we do that for our own kids. They demand juice, so we give them apple and grape juices that don't taste like ass when you dilute them (can't do that with orange juice). And of course, we only give them the orange juice that has calcium added, and we give them almond milk and coconut (with added calcium), sometimes mixed with the unsweetened kind. The juice is mostly given as a treat... we try really hard to give them mostly water (filtered from the tap) as much as we can. Especially at night, because we don't want the sugar metabolites to damage their teeth.
Something they really enjoy, incidentally, is water kefir. It's like probiotic soda. Not too sweet, with a bit of a yeasty taste (reminds me of beer but without the alcohol). So they get probiotics, and they think it's soda. Same thing with Kombucha. Those are especially good when they pick up a stomach bug.
Draw the graph with pct as Y, years as X if you can't visualize it mentally.
Wow, I so never thought of that...
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
SodaStream in the US has discontinued the traditional soda flavor syrups in favor of what they call "Waters". Apparently after wasting millions on a superbowl commercial in a stupid attempt to compete with Coke and Pepsi they decided that what people really want is lightly flavored water. On second thought, maybe "UrineStream" would be a better name.
That's why I'm here to help you. Now for the next step. Find a tall building, go to the room and throw something soft off the edge. Graph the object's path. Compare with previous graph. That's a "plummet" vs a "gradual decline". If you still can't visualize the difference, then the final step is to gain personal experience. While still on the tall building...
(Go to the roof, not the room. Why doesn't /. support editing?)
Even worse than that? Sucralose. I've learned that one has to read ingredient lists very carefully these days, and I've been burned by products that touted "No added sugar!" or "reduced sugar!" but included added sucralose as a way to make them just as sweet, or even sweeter, as comparable products. Not to mention the tangy aftertaste that artificial sweeteners add...
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Casteism
is the new smoking. If soft drink manufacturers switched back to cane sugar it would help evade stigmatization. Additionally, the cost benefit of using corn syrup has weakened because of the higher price of corn as a result of ethanol production. And cane sugar tastes better; some niche soft drinks have already made the switch and I've tried them.
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Perrier is indeed rather expensive, but, I like the taste. The standard one or the subtly lime flavoured one is what I usually drink. One of my few luxury food interests, and why not - life is to be enjoyed.
like smoking, what has the industry done to improve its standing in the community? remember the examples?? put your tooth in a glass of soda and see what happens ina couple of days?? Or a better yet, watch as it cleans your car battery