Editor’s note: This commentary is by Dr. Louis A. DiNicola, a pediatrician in Randolph and the immediate past president of the Vermont Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
[A]s a physician, I have seen the dramatic rise in obesity and the effects of obesity on the health of all of our Vermont community. Children have suffered the most with dramatic increases in type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and early onset coronary artery disease by early adulthood. These costly preventable illnesses related to obesity are part of the reason that some public health experts predict that this generation of American children will be the first in history to live shorter lives than their parent’s generation.
Sugary drinks like soda, energy drinks, sports drinks and so-called “fruit” drinks (which often have very little real fruit juice), are the largest source of added sugars in the average American’s diet. Decades of clinical studies show sugar-sweetened beverages to be a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic from which Vermont is not immune. In fact, the Vermont Department of Health’s own surveys show that Vermonters who consume three or more sugary drinks per day are significantly more likely to be obese than those consuming none. Sugary drinks thus directly contribute to the declining health of Vermonters, particularly kids, and to the dramatically rising cost of treating the medical complications related to the overconsumption of sugary drinks.
I have children in my practice that consume two or three 20-ounce bottles and more a day. That is up to 18 tablespoons of sugar a day or 1,800 calories of pure sugar.
Studies by economists and public health researchers show that a significant excise tax on sugary drinks decreases the consumption of this non-nutrient source of extremely high amounts of liquid sugar. There is up to six tablespoons in some of the 20 ounce sugary drinks on the market. It is difficult to believe that anyone would knowingly pour six tablespoons of sugar into 20 ounces of liquid and drink not once or twice but often more than that a day. I have children in my practice that consume two or three 20-ounce bottles and more a day. That is up to 18 tablespoons of sugar a day or 1,800 calories of pure sugar.
The tax could be used to improve the health of all Vermonters and over time decrease the cost of medical care while improving their health.
The well-funded corporations that make and market these harmful drinks try desperately to paint this tax a negative for some small businesses. Yet there are plenty of other healthy alternatives like water, seltzer and low-fat milk that our local merchants could sell to their customers. And let’s remember that soaring health care costs related to the obesity epidemic affect every business and taxpayer.
If our elected officials truly care about a healthier Vermont they will make this tax a reality.
