The silly season in the fight against obesity is spreading, it seems, from the West coast to the East coast. The latest metropolis to join in the battle against soda is Boston, where city officials are considering a ban on selling sugar-sweetened beverages in government buildings. The anti-soda craze was started by Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, and now Boston is following suit.
With cigarettes proscribed from the workplace and trans-fats already prohibited, Boston health officials believe banning sodas from city-owned vending machines will help curb the nation s obesity epidemic, but according to ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross, this initiative is ridiculous from the get-go.
It s overly simplistic, and to demonize sugary soft drinks as the cause of the obesity epidemic is a simple solution to a complex problem and it s wrong, seconds ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.
Dr. Whelan was also perturbed that a picture of Diet Coke appeared in a Fox News article reporting on the proposed Boston soda ban with the caption: Boston aims to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas and other beverages.
Does this mean they re going after diet soda too? asks a perplexed Dr. Whelan.
It s ironic that they would picture Diet Coke since it should actually be part of the fight against obesity, as opposed to all those wonderfully nutritious fruit drinks that have 120-180 calories per serving, chimes in Dr. Ross.