USDA in New York City: sugary drinks are food!

A proposal by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to decrease obesity rates increase through a ban on using food stamps to purchase soda and other sugar-laden beverages was rejected by the USDA.

Bloomberg's proposal to ban together to Governor David Paterson in October 2010, indicating the excessive calories consumed through sugary sodas. The average American consumes the equivalent of 555 cans of soda per year. One in ten Americans drink soda for breakfast and 70 percent of all sales of sodium are sugary drinks, which can hold almost 40 grams of sugar per serving.

While the food stamps already some limitations on what can be purchased through the program, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack officially rejected the proposal of Bloomberg last week, saying that the ban would raise problems including the effectiveness of the suggested changes that would pose logistical challenges in terms of implementation.

In a statement, Bloomberg spoke to his frustration of the decision, "we are disappointed that the Federal Government did not agree and I regret that the families and children may suffer from their reluctance to explore our proposal" and assured New Yorkers that his Administration will continue to look at innovative ways to combat health problems affecting the people of New York and across the United States

Nearly 50 million Americans currently receive food stamps through the supplemental nutrition assistance program. An estimated six percent of all food stamp benefits go to the purchase of alcoholic beverages, and as much as $ 135 million dollars of food stamps are spent on sugar or high fructose corn syrup sweetened drinks in New York each year.

Sugary sodas have been linked to a number of the health risks, including obesity and diabetes, as have diet soft drinks, which are also linked to neurological disorders, infertility and certain types of cancer.

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Tags: diet soda, boiled food stamps, high fructose corn syrup, obesity rates, drinks, drinks food stamps, sugary soda

This entry was published on Friday, August 26, 2011 to 12:00 am and is filed under green living, health, , organic, organic food, Live organic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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