Soda ban just a start to improving diets

A fter years of protests by angry parents and bans by local school boards and state governments, the soft-drink industry has finally agreed to end its most egregious practice: vending empty-calorie, sugary “liquid candy” in schools. Though the deal is not perfect – it won’t take full effect for three years and “sports drinks” like Gatorade will still be available, though only in 12-ounce sizes – this agreement will consign the giant 20-ounce bottles of Coke and Pepsi to the great big recycling bin in the sky.

That’s a truly welcomed advance, and one for which the soda companies were quick to praise themselves. But if they hadn’t taken this “voluntary” action, they would have been sued to do so (by my organization and others).

Their action was also made inevitable by growing scientific evidence – and obvious evidence in every school – that increasing consumption of soft drinks increases the risk of obesity – and, hence, the risks of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Getting soda out of schools is only the first of many steps that need to be taken to improve kids’ health. The logical next step would be to get rid of other nutritionally poor choices from schools, starting with the candy bars, snack cakes, hot dogs and other junk foods that increasingly make school cafeterias and hallways look like 7-Elevens.

Thirty years ago the Department of Agriculture issued nutrition standards, but they are limited in scope, barring the sale of just a few foods – soda, gum, ice pops and hard candy – and then only in cafeterias during mealtimes. It’s Katie bar the door for everything else. Congress should pass a bipartisan bill that would give USDA the authority to update and broaden its standards.

Outside schools, parents whose kids watch shows like “Dora the Explorer” don’t have to worry about their kids being encouraged to eat carrots and whole-wheat bread. It’s ads – on television, the Internet and at movie theaters – for greasy fast foods and sugary cereals that pummel kids.

Food companies (and television networks) could voluntarily advertise only healthier foods, but we’ve seen little such good behavior over the 30 years since the Federal Trade Commission tried, unsuccessfully, to protect kids from advertisers. Only Kraft has stopped advertising to kids under 6 and advertises only its healthier foods to kids 6 to 11.

Congress could protect children – but I suspect that we’ll see a Jewish pope before such legislation. So once again, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and others are looking to courts for protection. We have notified Kellogg and Viacom, the owner of the Nickelodeon cable channel that features “SpongeBob SquarePants,” that we will sue them unless they upgrade their practices. We hope, though, that another spurt of corporate responsibility will mitigate the need for lawsuits.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has been mostly observing the obesity epidemic from afar, could help by requiring health notices on cans of soda and soft drinks – the only single foods that have been shown to promote obesity. Those notices could remind parents of the weight gain, tooth decay and other health problems associated with those drinks.

FDA also could help protect kids’ – and adults’ – arteries by getting partly hydrogenated oils (the source of most trans fat) out of the food supply and getting food companies to reduce salt in processed foods. Denmark has effectively banned partly hydrogenated oil, and the United Kingdom is browbeating companies into lowering salt levels.

Lastly, recognizing that families eat out more than ever before, fast-food restaurants should be required to list calories on menu boards, and big sit-down chains could be required to put additional nutrition information on printed menus. That idea is already percolating in several state legislatures and in Congress.

Of course, parents shouldn’t just rely on schools, companies and the government to protect their kids’ diets. They need to do their part, too. They need to set a good example, keep the television turned off, do a little nutritional cleansing of their pantries and resist their little darlings’ incessant whining for soda and candy and pizza and fries.

If parents, governments and, yes, lawyers continue to pressure food companies to do the right thing, we may have many more soda-like “voluntary” agreements to celebrate.