WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. consumer group on Wednesday called for cigarette-style warnings on soft drinks to alert consumers that too much of the sugary beverages can make people fat and cause other health problems.
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Ask someone if they know how many calories is in a 20oz bottle of soda?

It ain't 100-120 calories like the bottle says. It is 120 calories per 8oz serving.

So the whole bottle is about 300 calories.

Yikes.

That's a good idea. So many people have no idea what they are putting into their bodies. I wish the US would start using stickers like the UK, as well. No one seems to give a hoot about the surgeon general anymore, but this.....
well I think it might make a few folks think twice!
~m

The whole world could use this website...
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-burned.php

Or my "Diet.xls" spreadsheet... I'm a fiend.

~fff - np: oingo boingo - boingo

Okay, but I don't like coffee...and milk, water, and juice aren't caffinated, so they're no good to me. Other than tea, your options are somewhat limited...

I think they make carbonated water, silly.

Why does anyone assume many people will pay attention to a warning label if they won't read a nutrition label that's already on the package?

I think the idea is to make it abundantly clear to the mathematically-challenged that there are hundreds of calories in each (mentally) single-serving bottle of soda. Will it work? Not for most people, but at least then they REALLY have not excuse, apart from "the print isn't big enough!" and "why'd they put the warning in all italic font?"

Besides, many soda containers don't have a nutrition label. The Diet Dr. Pepper I had with lunch? Label. (I work in fast food. They give me free crap with which to poison myself. I think this is responsible for my chain's astoundingly high turnover, and the low number of employees who ever make it to their six-month raise.) The limited-edition Sour Apple Crush I had later? No label. It's as if they only put labels on things devoid of calories.

A 20oz Coke's nutrition label clearly defines a serving size of 8 fl oz. w/ 2.5 servings per bottle, and 100 calories. Since the entire label is listed as per serving I think it is obvious.

People just dont want to take time to be responsible for themselves. Its always someone elses fault that they are fat or whatever. I think its common sense. If you eat too much sugar and fat , then you will get fat. People cant think for themselves anymore.

People can think for themselves, but if you think they're not outmatched by multi-billion dollar industries with highly educated people all efforting to break their will and have them act against their instincts ... well, you're kidding yourself.

Personal responsibility has it's limits ... that's why so much goes behind getting people to drop it. Responsibility is not profitable. Impusivity is. So is habit.

And never mind how many calories or how much sugar ... how much caffiene are you injesting? I mean, it's a drug and you don't know how much you're taking in.

Something's very wrong there.

but if the average consumer can not figure ot that 2.5 (servings) X 100 (calories) = 250 calories per bottle, that isn't exactly coke's fault. much less if they are too damn lazy to read the label and/or do the math. the fault for most of these issues is as much our society's laziness or need for instant self-gratification as it is corporate greed, etc. i hardly think coke/pepsi is trying to "break their will" or "act against their instincts" to sell them a soft drink. it is our personal responsibility to take care of ourselves, our bodies...if we are expecting politicians and/or corporate america to do so...well, there is one helluva problem. i'm overweight, and need to take better care of myself. that is my problem, not that of any fast food or soft drink company.

Why is that "serving size" nonsense there? romanticism ... to make it seem what it's not.

If it didn't manipulate, they wouldn't do it ... plain and simple.

because that is the way it is measured for comparative sales, year-over-year sales increases, etc. and it is has been considered the "industry standard" for measurement pretty much since the industry's inception. also, the 8 oz unit of measure can be used across the board w/all of their products from 8 oz bottles up to gallons of concentrate/syrup. it is simply a consistant unit of measure to guage sales volume. my guess is, that since the 8 oz measurement was already in use as a "standard serving", that it was just adapted to fit these consumer oriented/legal requirements after the fact.

everything is not a conspiracy against the consumer. again, it is my responsibilty to take care of my body. not coke's, pepsi's, kroger's or mcdonald's. if i'm to damn lazy to figure it out, or simply don't care enough to try...shame on me, not them.

I don't think there is any specific intent on misleading anyone. Some labels are clearer than others, so I think it is a space issue on the label as to how things are worded.

If they don't have room for proper nutrition facts, where are they gonna get room to put this warning?

I agree with Bill and Amanda...People have the ability to educate themselves on what they take into their body, we do not need more warnings.

Right... it's the consumer's responsibility to know what's going in their body...

here's my way...
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-burned.php

Unsimilar to the 8 oz beverage standard... what kills me is the cereal aisle... they totally manipulate... the cereal serving sizes range from a 1/2 cup to 1.5 cups... and I'm not talking grape nuts and corn flakes... I'm talking "like products" with drastically different serving sizes to make themselves look healthier or more nutritious than their competitors... at the expense of the consumer's body.

~fff - np: opeth - my arms, your hearse

If I used the word conspiracy, I mis-spoke. A CPG company's job is to move product and sell. Everything they do is to sell more. Everything that doesn't meet this end is stopped. Nobody is saying it's a conspiracy ... it's what they do. If you put a giant number next to "Calories", they will sell less soda. Period.

Industry Standard? That's another way of saying, "because that's how it is." Not an acceptible answer in my book. And never will be.

Profit is gained, in today's corporate food arena, by maintaining untrue images, occluding info and romanticizing shit that's bad for you. Plain and simple. Consumer's fault for falling into it? To an extent, but to believe it's just that simple is the height of gullability and reductionist thinking.

A very good point. Just ask smokers how many of them ever read the warning labels on those packages.

Anyway, another BAD thing about diet sodas is the aspartame. It's very addicting and can cause severe anger management issues when consumed in large quantities.

Cher

Pure American Water

Nutrition Facts:

Serv. Size 8 fl. oz. (240 ml)
Servings per container about 3

Calories 0

Amount/Serving:

Total Fat 0g 0%
Sodium 0mg 0%
Total Carb. 0g 0%
Protein 0g

Not a significant source of fat cal., sat. fat, trans fat, cholest., fiber, sugars, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron.

Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I never drink soda, seldom drink decaf coffee or tea. I occasionally drink herb teas and/or soda water flavored with lemon, lime and orange.

Cher

What people often forget is that some of us have really just planned on dying young.

I'd rather die young than not be able to have Coke. I mean - 90 years of eating carefully and exercising, or 40-60 years of enjoying life a little? It's an easy question for me.

Let's get back to this one when you're approaching 60, ok?



Patrik