<story><title>The Decline of ‘Big Soda’</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/upshot/soda-industry-struggles-as-consumer-tastes-change.html?_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>klenwell</author><text>&lt;i&gt;When Mr. Nutter was fighting the soda tax battle, he kept a bottle of Mountain Dew and a container with 17 teaspoons of sugar — the amount in the bottle — on the table in the center of his office. It was a good “conversation piece,” he said, about the surprising number of calories in a typical soda.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think this is key. Better information and transparency is having an effect. I&amp;#x27;m glad to hear we&amp;#x27;re approaching a point where the RDA for sugar will be listed on products just like fat, sodium, and potassium. I expect this will have a major impact on consumer behavior and industry behavior, much like calorie listings on fast food menus. It still requires government regulations, but instead of challenging First Amendment principles, it embraces them.&lt;p&gt;Most consumers aren&amp;#x27;t idiots. But they&amp;#x27;re aren&amp;#x27;t scientists or academic researchers for the most part either. Bring them relevant, accurate information and they are capable of making rational choices. This article is encouraging evidence.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>caseysoftware</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s why we haven&amp;#x27;t had anyone start smoking in decades..&lt;p&gt;Soda sales are down but obesity is still up, so the calories are coming from somewhere. If you believe the other common stories, we&amp;#x27;re drinking the calories.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d wager they come from the rise of coffee-based beverages - which would not be considered soda - but I don&amp;#x27;t have data to back that up.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Decline of ‘Big Soda’</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/upshot/soda-industry-struggles-as-consumer-tastes-change.html?_r=0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>klenwell</author><text>&lt;i&gt;When Mr. Nutter was fighting the soda tax battle, he kept a bottle of Mountain Dew and a container with 17 teaspoons of sugar — the amount in the bottle — on the table in the center of his office. It was a good “conversation piece,” he said, about the surprising number of calories in a typical soda.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think this is key. Better information and transparency is having an effect. I&amp;#x27;m glad to hear we&amp;#x27;re approaching a point where the RDA for sugar will be listed on products just like fat, sodium, and potassium. I expect this will have a major impact on consumer behavior and industry behavior, much like calorie listings on fast food menus. It still requires government regulations, but instead of challenging First Amendment principles, it embraces them.&lt;p&gt;Most consumers aren&amp;#x27;t idiots. But they&amp;#x27;re aren&amp;#x27;t scientists or academic researchers for the most part either. Bring them relevant, accurate information and they are capable of making rational choices. This article is encouraging evidence.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hippich</author><text>I hope people will also lay down sugar amount of apple, bagel, etc food next to these coke&amp;#x2F;dew&amp;#x2F;etc bottles of soda drinks. =)&lt;p&gt;Thing is - most of products in US has label stating clearly amount of calories and major contributors. It is SUPER easy to find approximate amount to which you need to stick. But people still over do it two&amp;#x2F;three&amp;#x2F;more times.&lt;p&gt;As much as I hate it, I think only high food costs will work. Problem is - how to keep it high enough to prevent abuse, but at the same time, keep lower income people access to enough nutrients.</text></comment>