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Sports Drinks Gain In Schools
One by one school districts have started to ban soft drink sales in schools, conveniently at the same time lawyers for the Center For Science in the Public Interest ready to prepare a lawsuit against Coke and Pepsi. The lawyers will argue that soda consumption in school is one of the reasons why the young American population is so obese. According to a report published in August by the Government Accountability Office, 75 percent of all high schools, 65 percent of all middle schools and 30 percent of elementary schools have beverage contracts. But the American Beverage Association data released earlier this month counteracts that in a way by pointing out that soft drink consumption has dropped. The big gainer? Sports drinks, of course. According to ABA's report, soda makes up a 44.9 percent share of what is consumed in high schools, but that share has dropped 12.3 percent since 2002. Filling in that gap are sports drinks, which now have a 14.3 percent share, a 7.5 percent increase since 2002 and bottled water, up 3.6 percent to 12.7 percent of the market. I'm wondering if the ABA's data that sports drinks are on the rise in any way refutes the obesity argument. I think there is a good deal of sedentary drinking of Gatorade. Sure it has half the sugar in soda, but it still has calories. Word inside Gatorade, however, is that they have data to show that the majority of students drinking Gatorade drink the brand when they are active.
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