New York City Health Board Caps Soda Serving Sizes

The measure, championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is certain to intensify a growing national debate about soft drinks and obesity, and it could spur other cities to follow suit, even as many New Yorkers say they remain uneasy about the plan.

14 Sep 2012 --- The New York City Board of Health has approved a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, street carts and movie theaters, the first restriction of its kind in the country.

The measure, championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is certain to intensify a growing national debate about soft drinks and obesity, and it could spur other cities to follow suit, even as many New Yorkers say they remain uneasy about the plan.

“This is the single biggest step any city, I think, has ever taken to curb obesity,” Mr. Bloomberg said shortly after the vote. “It’s certainly not the last step that lots of cities are going to take, and we believe that it will help save lives.”

The measure, which bars the sale of many sweetened drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces, is to take effect on March 12, unless it is blocked by a judge. The vote by the Board of Health was the only regulatory approval needed to make the ban binding in the city, but the American soft-drink industry has campaigned strongly against the measure and vowed this week to fight it through other means, possibly in the courts.

CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson responded to the news by stating: “New York City Mayor Bloomberg has ignited an important national conversation about out-of-control serving sizes for—and consumption of—soda and other sugary drinks. We are gratified that the city’s Board of Health voted to cap serving sizes of sugary drinks sold at the restaurants and other food vendors it regulates to 16 ounces, as the Mayor proposed.”

“It is the responsibility of city and state health departments to prevent disease. And to make a dent in expensive and debilitating conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems, it makes perfect sense to act to discourage and reduce soda consumption. Soda and other sugary drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet and provide nothing of value, only empty calories from high fructose corn syrup or other sugars and a bunch of other questionable chemicals. Yet what was once a rare treat is now basically the default drink, especially for youths. One chain is even marketing soda specifically as a breakfast beverage! And the standard 12-ounce can, itself a replacement for 6.5- or 10-ounce bottles—is increasingly being supplanted by 16- or 20-ounce bottles, or 32- or even 64-ounce tubs.”

“No one misses the partially hydrogenated oil or stink of cigarettes Mayor Bloomberg dispatched from New York City restaurants. And very few are really going to miss quart-sized soda servings despite the professionally manufactured outrage from soda-industry front groups. I hope that New York's action emboldens other health departments and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to limit serving sizes and use other measures to reduce consumption.”