Sweetness is associated with beauty, goodness, love and brightness. Preference for all things sweet is probably innate. Can an ad campaign change our mind from "sweet is lovely" to "sweet is disgusting"?
New York City's Department of Health produced this video (paid for by a private donor) which attempts to do just that.
The spoonful of sugar we started off with a few decades ago has exploded into dozens of spoonfuls a day, and sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are added to many processed foods, making food very palatable, but quite detrimental to our health.
Too much sugar contributes to obesity and its many consequences, and can undermine normal satiety levels, motivating us to eat more than we need and create food cravings. Too much sugar may also raise blood pressure and can elevate blood triglycerides levels (a risk factor for heart disease).
And although sugar is added to many foods--breakfast cereals, condiments and desserts--soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in Americans' diets. Soft drinks and fruit drinks combined make up almost half of an average American's added sugar, and Americans take in an average of about 300 calories a day from sugary drinks alone. No other food or beverage has been associated as clearly to weight gain and obesity as soft drinks.
To build awareness and discourage soda consumption, the New York City Health Department's started an ad campaign this summer picturing gobs of fat pouring from a soft drink bottle into a glass and confronting New Yorkers with a bold question posted on subway billboards and print media: Are you pouring on the pounds? "Sugary drinks shouldn't be a part of our everyday diet," says New York City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley. "Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer."
The latest addition to this initiative is the video you see above-now circulating online on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter--and causing quite a stir.
Gross? Disgusting? Effective?
What do you think?
Dr. Ayala
Full disclosure: I'm vice president of product development for Herbal Water, where we make organic herb-infused waters that have zero calories and no sugar or artificial ingredients. I'm also a pediatrician and have been promoting good nutrition and healthy lifestyle for many years.
Read more from Dr. Ayala at http://herbalwater.typepad.com/
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