Have you seen the reports from all the elementary and middle schools that are removing soda machines from their hallways?
Those communities are fed up with the amount of junk food that kids today are consuming, and they figure that if they can remove the soda machines from the classroom – that will automatically start making kids healthier.
In some regard, it ends up that those communities may be right after all.
A RECENT HARVARD STUDY looked at the amount of soda that children drink between the ages of two and 19, and the researchers found that today’s kids are drinking seven trillion calories in sugary beverages every year.
That’s 7,000,000,000,000 calories.
And since we know that the average 12oz can of Mountain Dew has 110 calories, and a 12oz can of regular Coca-Cola contains 140 calories, we’re just going to round up the average calorie count per beverage to be 150 calories a pop. No pun intended.
Besides, Web Watch is probably low with that estimate of 12oz beverages, with the proliferation of Super Size, 64oz cups, and unlimited pours from a 2-liter bottle into a Red Solo Cup. But we’re going to do that math anyway.
7 trillion calories at 150 calories per soda is 46.6 billion cans.
The US census estimates that there are 55.5 million kids aged from pre-K to 12th grade this year.
That works out to about 840 12oz cans per child, per year. Or, roughly every child in pre-school through high school graduation drinking 2.3 12oz cans of soda every day, including weekends and holidays.
That’s a lot of soda drinking, folks.
Web Watch knows a number of parents who don’t allow their children to drink anything but iced tea, lemonade, milk, or water with their meals. And those kids lead perfectly happy, active and healthy lives. They’re always running around outside and having a good time.
Hmmm – maybe it’s the running around outside that helps burn off all those calories from the milk rather than that they’re not drinking sodas.
So what about you? How many sodas are you drinking a day as an adult? What about your children? Tell us in the comments below…