WHY IT MATTERS
Sugary drinks are leading sources of added sugars in the American diet. Frequently drinking sugary drinks is associated with weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay and cavities, and gout, a type of arthritis.
When it comes to ranking beverages best for our health, sugary drinks fall at the bottom of the list because they provide so many calories and virtually no other nutrients.
Studies in children and adults have found that reducing sugary drink consumption can lead to better weight control among those who are initially overweight. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that children younger than 11 do not have any beverages containing added sugar.
HEALTH DANGERS OF SUGARY DRINKS
SUGAR CONSUMPTION
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In 2011–2014, 5 in 10 adults (49%) drank a sugary drink on a given day. On average, U.S. adults consumed 145 calories from sugary drinks on a given day
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In 2011–2014, 6 in 10 youths (63%) drank a sugary drink on a given day. On average, U.S. youths consumed 413 calories from sugary drinks on a given day
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Among U.S. children aged 1 to 5 years, 57.1% reported consuming at least one sugary drinks in the past 7 days
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Sugary drink intake is higher among males, young adults, non-Hispanic Black or Mexican Americans and families with low incomes
CALORIES
The average can of sugary drink provides about 150 calories, almost all of them from added sugar.
ENERGY DRINKS
Energy drinks have as much sugar as soft drinks, enough caffeine to raise your blood pressure, and additives whose long-term health effects are unknown.
CAVITIES
Frequency of sugary drink consumption was positively associated with tooth loss among young adults even when the average sugary drink intake was less than once per day.
OBESITY
One study found that for each 12-ounce soda children consumed each day, the odds of having obesity increased by 60% during 1½ years of follow-up.
DIABETES
People who consume sugary drinks regularly—1 to 2 cans a day or more—have a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who rarely have such drinks. Risks are even greater in young adults and Asians.
HEART DISEASE
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A study of 40,000 men who averaged one can of a sugary drink per day had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack than men who rarely consumed sugary drinks.
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Women who drank more than two servings of sugary drink per day had a 40% higher risk of heart attacks or death from heart disease than women who rarely drank sugary beverages.
GOUT
A study of 80,000 women found that those who consumed a can a day of sugary drink had a 75% higher risk of gout than women who rarely had such drinks. Researchers found a similarly elevated risk in men.
BONE HEALTH
Sugary drinks may pose a unique challenge to healthy bones:
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Soda contains high levels of phosphate
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Consuming more phosphate than calcium can have a deleterious effect on bone health
LIVER CANCER
A study of postmenopausal women found that participants who drank the highest amounts of sugary drinks had an increased risk of liver cancer. More specifically, those drinking 1 or more servings of sugary drinks daily had an 85% higher risk of liver cancer than those who drank 3 or fewer servings of sugary drinks per month.
MORTALITY
According to a large, long-term study of 37,716 men and 80,647 women in the U.S., the more sugary drinks people drink, the greater their risk of premature death — particularly from cardiovascular disease, and to a lesser extent from cancer.
HOW A SUGARY DRINK TAX HELPS
Since Berkeley passed the Sugary Drink Distributor Tax in 2014, it has raised more than $XX million dollars to pay for a wide range of programs and fund grantees to work throughout the city to overcome the ill effects of soda consumption.
Because prevention is a critical part of this program the Sugary Drink Distributor Tax also funded nutrition education courses among students and those communities most aggressively targeted by Big Soda.
SCHOOL GARDENS
How many school gardens were funded with Sugary Drink Distributor Tax?
REDUCED CONSUMPTION
In the first 10 years of Berkeley’s Sugary Drink Tax, consumption of these unhealthy beverages dropped by more than 30%.
MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS
From 2018- 2022, 20,000 primary care referrals and 9,032 dental referrals were made because of the programs funded by the Sugary Drink Tax.
CAPACITY
Sugary Drink Tax funding helped build organizational capacity, allowing grantees to expand their reach and spread health education and direct services to vulnerable populations.
FOOD ACCESS
With the onset of COVID-19 and increase in emergency food needs, programs funded by the Sugary Drink Tax were able to prioritize food access. This included expansion of food pantries (BUSD, Berkeley Youth Alternatives and Multicultural Institute), and prescription vouchers for farmers’ markets (Fresh Approach).
WATER ACCESS
With funding from the Sugary Drink Tax,16 indoor and outdoor refillable hydration stations (drinking fountains) were installed in priority locations throughout the city to improve access to water.
INFORMATION
The programmatic focus on education has gone beyond nutrition and water promotion. It built a deeper awareness among Berkeley residents about predatory marketing and how inequity in the environment affects individuals’ health.
POLICIES
The success of the Sugary Drink Tax helped pave the way for the City of Berkeley’s Healthy Checkout Ordinance, which was passed in September 2020.
INTERNAL POLICIES
The Sugary Drink Tax funded grantees and the City of Berkeley adopted internal organizational policies to limit consumption of sugary beverages in the workplace.
EQUITY
In addition to continuing to fund the Berkeley Unified School District cooking and gardening program, the campaign focused on righting historical wrongs and disinvestment in Berkeley’s communities of color by putting critically needed resources back into the hands of organizations best suited to decide how to do the work.