Did you usually have a soda or two, or a tall frappe mocha every day?
"Life's sweeter with fewer sugary drinks," according to health officials in Los Angeles and other major cities. That's the slogan of a new nationwide campaign announced Wednesday.
"Consuming too many sugary drinks, adds empty calories to our diets, inches to our waistlines and risks to our health," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of Los Angeles County's Department of Public Health.
It's estimated that a person in LA County drinks an average 60 gallons of sugary drinks a year.
Over time, all those calories and sugar increase the risks of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other health problems, said health experts.
Besides soda, the "Life's Sweeter with Fewer Sugary Drinks" campaign targets fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, flavored coffee and sweetened ice tea.
The goal of the new campaign is to reduce consumption of soda and sugary drinks by about two-thirds, close to what's recommended by the American Heart Association. The association recommends that consumers limit their intake of sugary drinks to about 450 calories per week or about three 12-ounce cans. Americans now drink more than twice that amount.
People are drinking just too much of what amounts to "liquid candy," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
However, according to the American Beverage Association, sugary drinks are not the sole cause of obesity.
"CSPI's campaign against sugar-sweetened beverages ignores the latest scientific evidence showing that sugar-sweetened beverages play a small and declining role in the American diet, even as obesity is increasing.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
"According to an analysis of federal government data presented to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Committee, all sugar-sweetened beverages (soft drinks, juice drinks, sports drinks, flavored waters, etc.) account for just 7 percent of the calories in the average American's diet. That means Americans get 93 percent of their calories from other foods and beverages. And, recent data show that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has been declining."
The full ABA statement is available online.
Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: Twitter: @NBCLA // Facebook: NBCLA
