scigirl

JakeJohnson,

There is a grain of truth to what you are saying - simple sugars are good for certain activities. However that is only true in the context of a healthy diet which includes complex carbs, fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc, etc. There is evidence to suggest that drinking soda is a bad thing for teens - especially females - because they don't drink soda and a healthy glass of milk. When they choose to drink soda, they omit other stuff that they need. Here's the abstract:
Beverage choices of young females changes and impact on nutrient intakes.

The researchers looked at beverage intake in 12 to 19 year old females over the years of 1994 to 1996. The key findings:

* Milk intakes decreased by 36% whereas that of sodas and fruit drinks almost doubled from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s.
* Between ages 12 and 19 years, intakes of fruit juices, soda, tea, fruit drinks, and alcoholic beverages either increased or remained relatively steady, while milk intakes decreased with an increase in age.
* At age 12 years, 78% drank milk and had the lowest soda intake (276g), while at age 19-years, only 36% drank milk and drank a high amount of soda (423g). Those who did not drink milk had inadequate intakes of vitamin A, folate, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium.
Plus - doesn't soda increase your risk of cavities/dental caries? Anyone know?

scigirl

AquaVita

Yes it does. It has been shown to promote tooth decay unless teeth are cleaned immediately afterwords.

Striel

I feel it is up to the parents to teach their children healthy eating habits.

I don't know about other schools, but when I was in junior high and high school, the vending machines were only available during a ten minute break we recieved about an hour and a half after lunch. Not even the soda machines were available at lunch time. At the time I thought it was a stupid rule, but looking back, it is a good one. That way kids are more likely to eat a healthy lunch, but if they want a sugary snack later it most likely wouldn't take the place of a real meal.

SimplyAtheistic

This is exactly my point though, the drink in itself is not inherently unhealthy. It is the irresponsible decisions made by the consumer. And it does promote tooth decay, but I was concerned with the obesity argument. It pisses me off to no end when people complain that fast food is making them fat, EAT HEALTHY AND EXCERCISE. Its not a complicated formula.
Jake

scigirl

That is not necessarily the case - that study was not designed to address this question. I think dentists would disagree with your claim here.

Yes, the consumer. I keep thinking "patient," but that's ok! That IS the point - high school students are consumers. Yes this is true. And what are they consuming? They consume what is available. Supply and demand - this is basic economics that even I understand!

If there are no carrots or 100 percent fruit juice in the vending machines, and the lines for the healthy food are really long (they were in my high school), what are the high school students going to do? They are going to make poor choices, because A is coke and B is coke and C is coke. It's sort of like their choices for birth control at a catholic rally.

I agree that blaming coke and McDonalds for our obesity problem is naive. I also think though that when it comes to places like high schools or hospitals - more could be done to encourage responsible choice.

Read my second post - and yes while it was totally my fault that I'm an idiot and forgot my lunch in the fridge, look at what i had to eat because i did so. No I did not have time to go to the store during lunch and buy something else, and no I couldn't afford today to have something healthy delivered. And - what kind of food that is delivered is healthy? Not much.

High school students have even less ability to buy their own food - for school meetings they rely on food that can be delivered, which is nearly always pizza. Some campuses are closed, some high school students can't drive or don't have (or aren't given and probably shouldn't be given) the responsibility of purchacing all their own food. Can we as a society decide that at least we should give them the choice to eat healthy, instead of just putting candy bars and cokes on every fucking corner and saying "too bad so sad, fattie?" I think we can.

scigirl

Adrammalech

.The high school that I went to had a very large contract with coca cola, machines were everywhere. Then my second year there they decided to put in a milk dispensing maching, the goddamn thing kept running out every lunch period. The success was all abou the marketing, since it was in a machine, the kids were wanted to pay for it, rather than standing in line for tiny little carton of milk. Go figure.

Vandrare

hi...

i'm don't completely understand the situation in america, but in my high school there was no vending machines at all. but my question is this: can we disregard the advertising of these companies like coke, which are in themselves like brainwashing. also the students seeing these vending machines all over the place, coupled with the incredible advertising campaigns these companies have, cant help but influenced in some way to buy(even if its subliminal).

exposing them to this during such formative years cant be helping the issue!

on a side note, soft drink is very bad!!! i dont drink it at all, especially because of what it does to your teeth! no more of if you drink it all the time.

:-D Anna

catalyst

I agree that soda in itself is not the problem, but in a common US high school situation, it is a terrible beverage to offer.

Given that, for nutritional purpsoes, it is essential a solution of sucrose and water, it has a glycemic index of 100 on a scale of 1 - 100, and needs to be utilzed pretty much immediately. The carbs that are not immediately utilzed will be stored primarily as fat.

Furthermore, it is not even all that spectacular as a post-exercise drink, as surcrose is 50% fructose, which is used to primarily re-glycgenate the liver, not the muscles which are often in need of glycogen replenishment. And, as the converion of fructose is limited by the availablity of 1,2 CPK, in an adult male approximately no more than 50 grams may be converted in a day, with the rest being converted to trans-fatty acids.

While I agree that high school students should be responsible consumers, soda is about the worst option for your otherwise healthy but bascially sedentary high school student, who spends most of the day sitting at a desk.

Fruit juice is not much better, in this case.

chanoc

My restaurant provides pizza to local schools. Great ad campaign, yet at the same token it's not good to introduce pepperoni pizza as healthy food.

contracycle

Indeed. this question is often dodged by appealing to personal responsibility; but if advertising doesn't work, why do companies spend millions using it?

There have been instances, such as Coke IIRC, provding resources for the school on condition that the shool uses the Coke logo for its windows screensaver.

Suffer to come unto me the little children, indeed.