This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
AHA CEO: Work remains on initiative to lower consumption of sugary drinks
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Despite some progress, more work is needed to reduce calories consumed from beverages, according to a statement from American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown.
The statement, issued in response to an interim Beverage Calories Initiative report from the American Beverage Association and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, praised manufacturers’ commitment to reduce calories from beverage consumption, but noted that consumers appear to be switching from full-calorie sodas to other beverages with added sugar.
“As a nation, we still have tremendous work ahead of us to shift consumer preferences away from sugary drinks,” she said. “The manufacturers’ commitment to drive down beverage calories was lauded by many and we are hopeful that they will still achieve their goals with the support of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.”
Brown said that while consumers are drinking more bottled water, the overall calories consumed from beverages has remained flat, likely due to consumers replacing their intake of full-calorie soda with sports and energy drinks, sweetened teas and bottled coffee drinks that contain significant amounts of added sugar.
According to the statement, the AHA and the Clinton Foundation, which co-founded the Alliance for Healthier Generation, are calling on the beverage industry to employ innovative beverage reformulation strategies and to reform their marketing practices targeting minority communities, with a goal of reducing calories from beverages by 20% by 2025.
Data from the report suggest that people are willing to make healthy choices when shopping in the supermarket, as demonstrated by the increase in bottled water sales, but the change has not translated to fountain beverages.
“We support increasing taxes on sugary drinks as a consumer disincentive, making healthy drinks the default beverage in restaurant meals and other complementary policy approaches to drive down consumer demand for sugary drinks across all retail locations,” she said. “We are already seeing convincing evidence of the effectiveness of these policies where sugary drink taxes drive up demand for water and decrease sales of sugary drinks, all while not hurting business.”
Disclosure: Brown is an employee of the American Heart Association.