So it's being reported that the American Beverage Association is suing New York's Health Department for running ads that link drinking soda to obesity. Really? Really, ABA? Because, guess what. DRINKING SODA CAN LEAD TO OBESITY. When we get overweight patients in our office, we always encourage them to lose weight. They ask us, "How? I really don't eat that much." We ask them what they drink. When told that the typical can of soft drink contains at least 140 calories, they are flabbergasted. Some of our patients take a Big Gulp to work and drink it throughout the day. Guess how many calories? 800! Guess what happens when they stop drinking soda, and switch to diet, or even, better, water? THEY LOSE WEIGHT!!!!
I'll ask it again. Why can't these companies realize that they are contributing to the illness, and sometimes, death, of millions of people and either offer smaller sizes of their product, or simply offer healthier products? And/Or, why don't we tax these unhealthy products so we can use the taxes to support these people when they develop diabetes, or have heart attacks? Oh. Your blogger is so angry right now! All I can think is that they really don't care. All they want to do is pump your body full of junk so they can pump their bank accounts full of money.
But you know what? People have to start caring about themselves, too, enough to tell Coke and Pepsi that they don't want to die of foot infections caused by diabetes, or have to buy two seats on the airplane because one isn't big enough. They have to tell Pepsi and Coke that they don't want to take medications every day for an illness that is totally preventable, that they want to spend their money on their grandkids that they will live long enough to entertain.
In the meantime, American Beverage Association, I guess you'd better just come on over to Hancock and sue Hahn and Nelson Family Medicine. Because we, too, believe that your products lead to obesity. And we're not going to stop telling our patients the truth!
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