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Sodas may be cheap but they end up costing the US millions of dollars in health care treatments and obesity-related illnesses year after year. Well, it seems that for Mayor Michael Bloomberg the buck stops in New York. In a recent crackdown on super sized soda drinks, New York may be the first state in the country to stop the sale of sodas in servings larger than 16 ounces. If all goes as planned, restaurants, bars, cinemas, sports arenas, and food carts will have to stop selling large drinks within the year. According to Bloomberg, this ban on extra large drinks will go a long way towards fighting obesity in a city that spends unspeakable amounts of money on health care annually.

While Bloomberg has attracted his fair share of critics and the social media sites are abuzz with complaints about a 'nanny state,' and the loss of personal freedom, one cannot argue with the reasons for this ban. After all, Bloomberg's move is based on a number of scientific studies about the health risks associated with the regular consumption of sugary sodas and beverages. Experts insist that the main problem with soft drinks today is that millions of Americans are more likely to reach out for a can of soda with its sugar laden empty calories rather than opt for a thirst quenching glass of water or a calcium enriched bottle of milk. Few people view soft drinks as occasional treats but choose to consume rivers of this liquid candy over the years. In this light, the statistics are truly scary. Consider this - one can of soda provides you with 150 calories and nearly all of these calories come from unhealthy high-fructose corn syrup. If you continue to drink a can of soda a day and cut no other calories off your regular meals, you could end up gaining up to 15 pounds of excess weight a year! And that's not all.

• According to the latest research by the American Heart Association, if you drink a can of soda every day, you have a 61% higher risk of developing some form of cardio vascular problem as compared to those who do not drink soda at all.
• Other health risks associated with high soda consumption include osteoporosis and tooth decay. There seems to be an inverse connection between the drinking of milk and soft drinks. When one is up, the other goes down. For teenagers and children especially, it would be much better for their bones to swap the soda for a glass of moo juice.
• Sodas are rarely satisfying so drinking them even by the bucketful will not prevent you from eating the same amount of solid foods that you normally do.
• Irrespective of whether you opt for a regular soda or try and assuage your guilt with a 'diet' version, the sugar or sugar substitute content in these drinks only serves to stimulate your appetite for more high calorie, sugary treats.
• Every time you drink a can of soda, you are gulping the equivalent of 10 spoons of sugar. And if the damage of ten spoons of sugar on your body is not enough, just imagine what havoc is being wreaked when you consider that this influx of sugar happens in a matter of minutes. As your body struggles to maintain a healthy blood sugar balance day after day, it is no surprise that sodas are linked to a high risk of type-2 diabetes in this country.

While the ban on super sized drinks won't solve the obesity problem in the US, it is an encouraging first step towards making some concrete changes in the right direction. But the big questions still remain - Will people stop drinking more soda as a result of the ban or will they simply spend more and buy two smaller drinks at a time? Will they use the extra money saved from not super sizing their drink and buy a candy bar instead? Will the benefits of Bloomberg's Big Soda Ban actually outweigh the costs? Only time will tell whether Mayor Bloomberg's quest for a healthier New York will be a success but for the sake of our health and our children's health, let's hope it is.

References:

1. http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2012a%2Fsupport_for_soda_limits.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1
2. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-vs-diet-drinks/
   
3. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/how-sweet-is-it/
   
4. Schulze MB, Manson JE, Ludwig DS, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Hu FB. Sugar-sweetened beverages, weight gain, and incidence of type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged women. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004; 292:927-934.

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