Tian 1 Eli Tian Kristen Foster CO150.401 28 October, 2013.

Should the Government Tell Us What Size Beverage to Drink? In Kristens CO150 class, I heard that New York City are going to have a soft drink size limit when we were talking about the topics that firstly interest us. I was shocked by this news. How ridiculous! We adults need the government to tell us what size of soft beverage to drink as if we are small babies. I could understand the reasons to have age limit to buy alcoholic drink and smoking ban in public areas. Because both drinking alcohol and smoking improperly will cause damage to others. However, drinking soft beverage is none of others business. So I set up a hypothesis that the legislation to limit the soft drink size may be caused by high obesity rates in NYC since we know soft beverage contains a lot of sugar. Then how about not overweight people? They will also be affected by this limit, which makes it ver y controversial. Whats more, this topic seems really exigent for me, because I like sugar contained drinks and foods, especially Coca-Cola. So Im one of the stakeholders. If the limit does take effect, maybe I cant enjoy a large size cola any longer. There are several questions come to my mind. Is it reasonable for the government to tell us on what size of soft beverage to drink? How do the people of NYC react to this limit? Firstly, I want to find some information about how this issue started and developed. By plugging NYC soft drink limit into Google, the first website I saw is New York City soft drink size limit-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. From Wikipedia, I learned that a limit on soft drink size was to have taken place on March 12, 2013, in New York City (Wikipedia). It was passed by eight members of the city's mayoral, and the size limit is 16 ounces, which I think

Tian 2 is really small. However, On June 11, 2013, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene went to court to fight the ruling that blocked the ban (Wikipedia). So I knew the ban hadnt taken effect today. At the see also section, I saw an Obesity in the United States hyperlink and opened it. According to it, obesity rates in the United States are the second highest behind Mexico and sweet drinks are the main contributing factor to obesity epidemic. Thereby, I realized my hypothesis is right that the legislation to limit the soft drink size is caused by obesity rates. I continued my project to find the relationship between soft drinks and body weight. In order to find some scholar article about it, I opened Academic Search Premier. By typing beverage and weight into it, I find an article with the title of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Weight Gain in 2-to 5-Year-Old Children. It attracted me because I knew children like to drink sugar-sweetened beverages and the parents concern a lot on their childrens body sizes. According to this article, children among aged 2-5 who have regular soda drink consumption are more likely to be obese compared with infrequent or nondrinkers (DeBoer, Rebecca, and Ryan). This source changed my point of view on this legislation some way. Before reading it, I thought we dont need others to tell us what to eat or drink, we have our own ways of life. Its ridiculous for the government to babysit us. After reading it, I realized that the majority of children dont have the ability of self-control even if they are alerted of overweight. Therefore, to some extent, its reasonable to have a legislation that restricts children to consume much soda drinks. However, as far as I know, the best way is to educating people to live healthily rather than restricting them in a passive way. To continue my project, I want to learn how people react to this legislation. So I searched NYC soda ban review with Google. I opened the first website on the list. Its title is New York

Tian 3 Soda Ban to Go before States Top Court. From this news article, I learned that the mayor Mr. Bloomberg was much criticized by proposing this legislation. Moreover, the Court of Appeals, had rejected the plan as improper, unlawful overreaching of government power (Grynbaum). I was glad to see the result was consistent with my point of view on this issue. I also saw many peoples reactions in the comment section. Almost all of them hold negative attitudes towards this legislation and say the Court of Appeals did right. They criticize the mayor and consider the rejection of the plan A win of people. I was taken aback by the obesity rates of the United States. How about the global obesity rates related to soft drink consumption? Had other countries with high obesity rates ever planned to use some methods to reduce their rates? To find the results for these questions. I plugged global and overweight into Academic Search Premier. Then I find a scholar article with the title Relationship of Soft Drink Consumption to Global Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes: A Cross-National Analysis of 75 Countries. According to it, globally, obesity rates increased significantly during 1997-2008 and how they vary with soft drink consumption. By watching the graphs which the writers created by analyzing data and statistics, I learned that the overweight rates increase very fast from 0 to 10 gallons per capita per year, then tend to slow down after 10. However the obesity rates always increase fast with soft drink consumption. Moreover, Industry analysis suggest that soft drink consumption is expected to rise by 15.7% over the next 5 years in low- and middle-income countries and 9.5% worldwide (Basu et al). That shocked me. Before reading this article, I was thinking people in poor countries are free with the problem of overweight. This article proved me wrong. The high obesity rates is a global problem we all face today.

Tian 4 However, this article didnt tell me how other countries (except the United States) react to this high rates. So I searched other countries reaction to high obesity rate and reaction to high obesity rate in Mexico with both Google and Academic Search Premier, but found no relevant results. So I assumed no intense reaction happened around the world that could arise attention from mass media and people. Nevertheless, I found some sources related to other countries high obesity rates. I was informed that this rate increased dramatically in Mexico and it surpassed the obesity rate of United States in 2008 (World Health Organization). Some small islands in the Pacific Ocean have even higher obesity rates. According to the FAOs data, which dates from 2008, several Pacific Island countries and territories have even higher obesity rates. Nauru (71.1 percent), the Cook Islands (64.1 percent) and the Marshall Islands (46.5 percent) all boast obesity rates well above those found in either Mexico or the United States (Huffington Post). In addition, by reading some news reports, I happened to realize that I need to find some information about the serious results of high obesity rates because I noticed labor problem many times. I typed results of high obesity rates into Google and find Health Effects of Obesity published by Stanford Hospital and Clinics. From this article. I learned that obesity has a farranging negative effect on health. Each year obesity-related conditions cost over 150 billion dollars and cause an estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the US. In addition, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, including osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and respiratory problems, cancer, metabolic syndrome and psychosocial effects are all related to obesity (Stanford Hospital and Clinics). I was surprised by the fact that obesity can cause so many health problems. I hadnt realized that obesity is such a serious problem previously because I have a regular figure and never encountered obesity problem.

Tian 5 Since obesity can be such a serious problem, I need to find some information about how to avoid it or get rid of it. I always think its more important for people learn healthy ways of life rather than force them to not eat or drink something. By plugging obesity, health and disease into Academic Search Premier, I happened to find an article titled Make these better food choices for better heart health. It is fun to read this article because it contains many pictures of healthy food. It mainly tells me what to eat for breakfast, lunch and supper. For example, it better to try whole-grain or sprouted-grain bread with almond butter or an olive oilor yogurt-based bread for breakfast because it increases fiber and protein; reduces unhealthy fats and calories (Harvard Heart Letter). If those overweight people are educated with those healthy ways of eating, they will be happy to try them. Although to cook those foods take lots of time, I think almost everyone can find their ways to live healthier if they are willing to do so. There are many ways to cure overweight but no way to cure laziness. In conclusion, during this project, I learned soft drinks can result in overweight and high obesity rates are a global problem nowadays both faced by developed and developing countries. Children with regular consumption of soft drinks are more likely to be obese. In addition, people in NYC havent approved the legislation of soft drinks limit because they consider it outreach of government power and they dont need the government to tell them what size to buy. I still hold some points of view that I have before my research. I think its not reasonable for the government to force people to drink small size soft beverages. It wont make any sense. The best way is to educate them how to eat and drink healthier and excise more. Although it may take a long time to do so, a positive way is always better than a passive one. I recommend that the mass media should spread more information about living healthy and reduce some commercials which tend to influence to people to have bad habits.

Tian 6 I have established 2 standpoints during my research period. (1) Since children dont have enough self-control on themselves, to some extent, its reasonable to have a legislation that restricts children to consume much soda drinks. (2) Although I have regular body figure, I still need to do more to give up some bad habits because of the serious results of obesity. I still need to do more research to analysis this issue before reaching the final conclusion. I hope to find more sources and constructive views. Then I can write my academic paper about this issue.

Tian 7 Works cited Basu, Sanjay, Martin McKee, Gauden Galea, and David Stuckler. Relationship of Soft Drink Consumption to Global Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes: A Cross-National Analysis of 75 Countries. American Journal of Public Health. 103.11 (2013): 2071-77. Academic Search Premier Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Grynbaum, Michael. New York Soda Ban to Go before States Top Court. Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 17 Oct 2013. Web. 18 Oct 2013.

Mark, DeBoer, Scharf, Rebecca, and Demmer, Ryan. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Weight Gain in 2-to 5-Year-Old Children Pediatrics. 132.3 (2013): 413-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. Health Effects of Obesity Stanfordhospital.org. Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Web. 18 Oct 2013. Make these better food choices for better heart health Harvard Heart Letter. 2.24 (2013): 1-7. Academic Search Premier Web. 18 Oct. 2013. Mexico Obesity Rate Surpasses the United States', Making It Fattest Country in the Americas. Huffingtonpost.com. Huffington post, 09 July 2013. Web. 18 Oct 2013.