All over the country, public officials are seeking ways to combat America’s obesity problem. Last year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a controversial ban on large soda drinks, and last week, the FDA announced it will start requiring the food industry to phase out trans fats.


While effective, the strategy behind initiatives like these is to control, rather than educate, consumers by removing the temptation of unhealthy foods completely.


But a campaign out of Hawaii chose instead to empower the consumer -- in this case, the teenage consumer -- and has had inspiring results so far[1] .


The campaign, "Rethink Your Drink[2] ," takes aim at sugary drinks like soda, sports drinks and fake “juices.” A 2012 survey of over 600 Hawaii teenagers revealed that 93 percent reported consuming sugary drinks every week, and 48 percent said they had a sugary drink every day. (Twenty-seven percent of teenagers and over half of adults in Hawaii are overweight or obese.)


The battle against sugary drinks is especially crucial as companies like Coca Cola have recently launched campaigns like “Cap the Tap[3] ,” which encourages restaurant managers to “turn off the tap” and get customers to order sodas instead.


Hawaii decided to battle marketing with marketing.


The “Rethink Your Drink” campaign, which ran from February to May, was largely designed by teenagers themselves[4] . Between focus groups and appointed youth advisers it was apparently discovered that grossing kids out was the best way to reach them, and the ads live up to that research.


They depict soda and sport drink bottles filled with what appears to be lard. Two of the posters show teenagers drinking out of the bottles, fat pouring all over them.


“Don’t drink yourself fat,” the posters say, “Choose water instead.”


rethink your drink


rethink your drink boy


A public service announcement video, produced by high schoolers themselves, showed a similar scene.


The ads ran on television, radio, print and movie theater previews for four months, after which the DOH surveyed 600 students. More than half of those surveyed said they had noticed the ads, and 54 percent of the students who had seen the ads said they drank fewer sugary drinks as a result[5] .


After such promising results, Hawaii has decided to relaunch the campaign with a goal of reaching 100 percent of Hawaii teens.


It will be a long road, however. In that same survey, Hawaii teens still reported drinking an average of 8.6 sugary drinks a week, amounting to roughly 1300 empty calories.


The battle to rethink our drinks is far from over.







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  • The Claim: DIet Soda Is Better For You Than Regular Soda


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> "Diet soda is no panacea," says <a href="http://portionteller.com/">Lisa R. Young</a>, Ph.D., R.D., C.D.N., adjunct professor of nutrition at NYU and author of The Portion Teller Plan. Sugar-free doesn't mean <em>healthy</em>. In fact, the "false sweetness" of diet soda can be quite problematic, says Young. The theory goes that the brain thinks that sweetness signals calories are on their way, and triggers certain metabolic processes that could, in fact, lead to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/diet-soda-weight-gain_n_886409.html">weight gain in diet soda drinkers</a>. And widening waistlines aren't the only downside. Diet soda has been linked to a whole host of health problems, including increased <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/diet-soda-diabetes-risk-type-2-artificially-sweetened-sugar_n_2663247.html">diabetes</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/diet-soda-stroke-heart-attack_n_1247195.html">stroke and heart attack risk</a>. These studies don't necessarily prove that drinking diet soda regularly <em>causes</em> health problems, Young cautions, but there's certainly nothing nutritious about it.




  • The Claim: If You Want A Big Boost Of Caffeine, Choose An Energy Drink Over Coffee


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> The truth is, a soft drink marketed for energy -- such as Red Bull or Rock Star -- has less caffeine than a cup of coffee (not to mention, more sugar!). Sure, an energy drink is easier to chug, but that doesn't change the simple fact that your average brewed coffee has between 95 and 200 mg per eight ounces, while Red Bull has about 80 mg for 8.4 ounces, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211">according to the Mayo Clinic</a>.




  • The Claim: Clear Soda Is Healthier Than Dark Soda


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> While the caramel coloring responsible for that brown hue <em>can</em> discolor your teeth, says Young, the big difference between clear or light-colored sodas versus darker sugary drinks is typically caffeine. Think Coca Cola versus Sprite, or Pepsi versus Sierra Mist. (Mountain Dew is the obvious exception.) Considering that the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/caffeine-content-coffee-tea_n_1224857.html">average can of soda has less caffeine that a cup of coffee</a>, most soda drinkers probably don't have to swap Coke for Sprite. But if you are nearing the "how much is too much?" caffeine tipping point, this might actually be a good rule of thumb to follow.




  • The Claim: Soda Made With Corn Syrup Is Worse For You Than Soda Made With Cane Sugar


    <strong>The Reality</strong>: It turns out that the problem isn't necessarily the corn-derived sweetener, it's the fact that the sugar is in liquid form. "I've done a lot to demonize it," Michael Pollan <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/taste/index.ssf/2011/10/michael_pollan_talks_food_natu.html">famously told the <em>Cleveland Plain-Dealer</em></a>. "And people took away the message that there was something intrinsically wrong with it. A lot of research says this isn't the case. But there is a problem with how much total sugar we consume." Both full-calorie sweeteners break down into approximately half glucose and half fructose (corn syrup is about 45 to 55 percent fructose, compared to sugar's 50 percent). As such, they behave very similarly in the body, which is to say dangerously: "HFCS is, of course, 45-55% fructose; and liquid cane sugar is 50% fructose," says David Katz, M.D. and director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. "So they are compositionally all but identical. Sugar is sugar, and the dose makes the poison in either case."




  • The Claim: A Trip To The Gym Warrants A Sports Drink


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> Watch a Gatorade commercial and you're apt to think you'll need a sports drink anytime you break a sweat. But the truth is that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/sports-drink-alternative_n_1557221.html">your electrolyte and glycogen reserves</a> aren't depleted until more than an hour of intensive training. So that 45-minute session on the treadmill? Probably not going to require much more than some water.




  • The Claim: Carbonation Weakens Bones


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> Young says this claim was likely born of the idea that if kids (or adults, for that matter) are drinking more soda, they're drinking less bone-benefitting milk. But recent research has zeroed in on the soda and bone density link. A 2006 study found that women who drank three or more colas a week (whether they were diet, regular or caffeine-free) had significantly lower bone density, leading researchers to believe <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-human-condition/2009/05/22/by-the-numbers-the-truth-behind-those-scary-diet-soda-myths.html">the culprit is flavor agent phosphoric acid</a>, found more often in colas than clear sodas, that ups the acidity of the blood, The Daily Beast reported. The body then "leaches some calcium out of your bones to neutralize the acid," study author Katherine Tucker told the site. Others have suggested that it's simply the <a href="http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-07/will-drinking-carbonated-beverages-weaken-my-bones">carbonation that hurts bones</a>, but the effect from a single soda would be negligible, Popular Science reported.




  • The Claim: All Calories Are The Same, No Matter Their Source


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> Research suggests that rapid consumption of the fructose in both sugar and high fructose corn syrup <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/4/537.long">doesn't properly stimulate production of leptin</a>, a hormone that sends the brain a signal when the body is satiated. This commonly leads to overconsumption of the highly caloric drinks. And research finds that soda drinkers <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-25-soda-drinkers_N.htm">do not compensate</a> for their extra calories by eating fewer calories elsewhere. In other words: you're probably going to eat some fries with that soda -- not an apple.




  • The Claim: Mountain Dew Lowers Sperm Count


    <strong>The Reality:</strong> This myth is little more than urban legend. No research exists documenting any <a href="http://www.everydayhealth.com/mens-health-pictures/rumored-sperm-killers-should-you-worry.aspx#/slide-3">effect on fertility from drinking Mountain Dew</a>, Everyday Health reported. Many speculators link the rumor to the (deemed-safe) food coloring Yellow No. 5 that gives Mountain Dew its neon hue. Yellow No. 5 has made headlines recently, as one of the two <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/artificial-food-dye-kraft-macaroni-and-cheese_n_2837205.html">food dyes two mothers seek to eliminate from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese</a>. They claim Yellow No. 5 has dangerous health effects, and in fact the food dye <em>has</em> been <a href="http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20439038_9,00.html">linked to ADHD</a>, Health.com reported. "At the end of the day, it's all about moderation," says Young. "Nobody's going to have a reduced sperm count from the <em> occasional </em> soda."




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