Click here to visit the new home of that's fit!

Hot on HuffPost Healthy Living:

AOL.com
MAIL

En Español

That's Fit

Send Feedback

Soda vs. Obesity: Coke's CEO fights back

Posted on Oct 23rd 2008 3:00PM by Martha Edwards

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss

Soda has received a pretty bad reputation these last few years -- in fact, it's considered the number one cause of obesity. That's just about the most harsh criticism one food item can get, especially since obesity is regarded as one of the top health issues in North America.

But those on the soda side are fighting back against these claims -- Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent recently issued a call to other soda manufacturers to put an end to these claims.

At the recent 2008 InterBev conference, Kent said, "People need to understand that obesity is not about a beverage or a candy bar or a restaurant meal or a PlayStation game or about working longer hours. It's a systematic lifestyle issue that we must address individually and collectively as a society."

But critics were quick to respond: "It sounds like the CEO of Coke is sticking his head in the sand by denying that obesity is related to soda pop. Soda pop isn't the only cause of obesity, but it's a very significant contributor," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

What do you think? Is soda to blame? Or are we misdirecting our blame on a massive corporation when it really just comes down to personal responsibility?

(via Calorie Lab)

Source

4 Comment

Tags: calories, Muhtar kent, MuhtarKent, obesity, pop, soda

Around the Web

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Katheryn 10-23-2008 @ 5:47PM

Personal responsibility. Nobody is forced to drink a ton of soda or eat too much junk food.

Eddie 10-23-2008 @ 6:43PM

Moderation is the name of the game. I recently took my cousin to a theme park, and he repeatedly said he was "thirsty", but rebuffed my offers of a water bottle. He ended up stopping at a snack shack for the biggest cup of coke I'd ever seen. Adding that to my coworkers who drink Coke (and ironically, Diet Coke) as though it were going out of style reinforces the fact that when you market your product as a water alternative, you have to also accept the consequences of having such a captive market. Such as the fact that your captive market will soon be too obese to work the buttons on your vending machines.

pierre trudel 10-25-2008 @ 5:16PM

Hi Martha,I completely agree with Mr.Kent of coca-cola.No one opens your mouth for you when you have a coke.I am a babyboomer and when coke first came out, it was a fantastic product and approved by all.Now that it is a staple everyday food we take the manufacturer to bat.Has anyone seen the calorie and sugar content of orange juice?The one single responsibility we all have as human beings,once we attain maturity,is what we put in our mouth.Lets teach our kids about food and give parents support and stop accusing companies for our own antiquated beliefs.

Andrew R 10-24-2008 @ 2:21AM

Okay, where to begin. First off, I do agree with Katheryn and pierre trudel in that no one is forcing you to drink soda, that is true. However, there isn't a multi-million, if not billion dollar campaign for you to eat more broccoli, is there? pierre, you said you were a baby boomer, right? Well, as a member of generation X, 80's kid, whatever, I can tell you that you were never raised to be inundated and bombarded with clever marketing schemes perpetrated by some of the most evil geniuses known to man (most notably, Creative Artists Agency's "Always Coca-Cola" campaign that was legendary and brilliant in it's own right). Don't get me wrong, I'm in awe at their precision, look at the results.

Now to Mr. Kent's claim that obesity is a "systematic lifestyle issue...". Well, Mr. Kent, I agree and disagree with you. Yes, soda in and of itself is not the reason why people in America are obese. However, when you take into account that soda is widely considered to be one of the absolute worst products you can put into your body, it ain't helping much either!!! Here's a link that illustrates my point quite nicely (originally quoted from a post on this site [That's Fit]). In a recent study conducted at Yale a system for rating foods has been devised in which soda is at the bottom of the barrel, receiving a shameless 1 out of a possible 100. If you'd like to get my take on the issue, please refer to the following link.

http://www.gohealthygofit.com/are-there-any-perfect-foods/

Basically, it's just like the argument against cigarette smoking as seen in the movie THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, let people make their own mind up, figure it out for themselves, blah blah blah. The real question is, are you willing to embrace obesity in America by allowing the worst foods to get the most "ink"/press, or do you actually want to help fight the problem? What's the answer? It looks like people have already made up their mind about this one