Hey Kids, Here Comes the Pitch (V)
Freakonomics blog points to a press release by the American Beverage Association outlining its new recommendations for cutting back on sodas in school vending machines. While the idea is great, substituting soda for high-sugar (and thus high-calorie) fruit juice isn’t necessarily helpful as calories are calories. They also list things that they believe to be okay like sports drinks and low-calorie soft drinks. But sports drinks are generally sweetened with the same high-fructose corn syrup as sodas and even low-calorie soft drinks have artificial sweeteners and caffeine that kids don’t need. Maybe the problem is having vending machines in schools in the first place?
