This is a good thing, really. But, I do worry that some drinks have gotten a bad rap due to our quest for health.
According to the Associated Press, the vending machine industry is now stepping up to pull non diet sodas from their machines in public and private schools over the next 3 years. These measures plus State measures in place in 22 States will dramatically cut calories for many of our kids. So, as I started out saying, all good.
But, even better for me was the news in the same report that sports drinks will still be available in high school. Diet drinks will be there, too, but it is the sports drinks I want to see available. Surprising? Not at all when you consider the facts.
I'll touch on the soda issue very briefly because what I really want to talk about is sports drinks. The bottom line on soda for me is I can't really think of a good reason why young kids need to have soda. So, don't give it to them. For tweens, limit soda to once in a while and special occasions but steer them to the diet varieties to limit calories. They are going to be having soda when on their own with their friends so better to help them develop a taste for the diet version than the regular. And, we all know teens drink soda so diet is all that should be available and it is appropriate for them to have more choices even at school as they are almost adults.
As for sports drinks, I have no problem with them being banned for regular use - this is appropriate. Sports drinks were not designed to be utilized as a regular use drink and replace water and milk for our kids. Plus, like soda, sports drinks are empty calories when used as as regular drink.
However, if used as designed, as a rehydration solution, sports drinks do have a significant role for our young athletes, and one that is supported by science. Our young athletes work hard - they sweat and their bodies utilize a great deal of energy when they exercise and play team sports in school. This is true regardless of the outside temperature but even more true if the season is warm. When our kids' bodies work like this, and especially when the temps outside are warm, our kids sweat a great deal loosing sugars and salts as well as water. So, just drinking water along as is the practice now on many sideline won't cut it. Kids do need sports drinks to maintain their balance when all is said and done.
So, I worry that a flat of ban of sports drinks as "bad" is hurting our young athletes and I've seen many a middle school and high school athlete in my office very dehydrated after a game because all that was available on the sidelines was water. I encourage serious young athletes to preload with a sports drink and postload with one as well if all that is available during a game or practice is water to avoid becoming dehydrated and that seems to work well. In fact, I tell parents of all kids participating in youth sports to keep sports drinks at home and I review signs of dehydration to keep an eye on. While the goal is to avoid dehydration, better to treat as soon as you recognize than to miss altogether. If you are not sure what the signs of dehydration are in young athletes, click here to go to a great review.
This is really a long winded way of saying that not all drinks are bad if used at the right ages - and at the right times. And, perhaps it's time us parents acted as better role models at home and just stopped allowing our kids to drink certain drinks. Just a thought.
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4 comments:
What about the recent news that linked even drinking DIET sodas with a rise in risk for metabolic disorders? http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/health_library/reuters/2007/07/20070723elin027.html
I vote for vending machines that only offer water! Um, except, not water in plastic bottles because now those are bad too. Hmmm, maybe we should just go back to drinking fountains??
The "metabolic" problems alluded to in that 2004 study include obesity, cholesterol and triglyceride problems, and high high blood pressure. The author of the study was quoted as saying that it was not the diet soda that likely caused these problems but how the drinking of the soda impacted how people eat. In his words:
"More likely is that consuming sweet sodas changes dietary patterns or that soda was simply a marker for participants' poor eating habits, he said."
LA Times
Like you, I'd love to see people drink water but for kids, they will go for the soda and if soda is going to be offered in High Schools I'd rather it be low calorie than the high octane stuff.
Dr. Gwenn
Yes, I understood the study (I'm a medical librarian) as well as a similar study from about 2005 that found that people who drank diet soda don't tend to lose any more weight than those who drink regular -- again, not because of the soda itself, but because of the links between soda drinking (regular or diet) and overall dietary patterns.
But that was actually my point -- offering soda in schools to begin with just seems like a very bad idea to me. And simply replacing regular with diet doesn't really address the problem, in my opinion (and I think, perhaps arguably, in the opinion of the research on diet vs. regular soda).
Yes, kids will drink soda and I can understand why some would argue that we ought to at least encourage them to drink the diet stuff if they're going to be drinking a lot of it (though, I think this is debatable if they are just going to have soda every now and then...).
That said, I can't help but feel like we ought to be pressing our schools to make more of an effort to offer healthier options to our kids. So, rather than replacing regular soda with diet in the machines, why not replace soda completely? (I do realize that you agree with that idea, though, and that you'd love to see that happen as well!)
I think the real problem is actually money. Schools put in vending machines because they need to make money off of them (at least, this is according to the 7 members of my family who are teachers). Coke sells. Water and milk do not.
I'd love to see schools try selling sports drinks instead of soda, though. Maybe that's a good compromise? For non-sporty students, it's probably six of one, half a dozen of the other, but it still seems like a step in the right direction. I'll mention that idea to the teachers in my family and see what they think about that, and whether or not that's ever been discussed at their own schools.
I love your blog, by the way, Dr. Gwenn! A lot of my medical librarian colleagues are readers of yours! Thanks for all the great work you do to help us all stay informed that much better! :)
You so hit the nail on the head on so many points! I have no doubt financial considerations are driving this all around and our kids are caught in the middle.
Low cal sports drinks are on the horizon so your suggestion is not a bad one at all but I'd argue that the sugar load and taste issues may be the same as with diet sodas so it's likely a wash.
Much can be done at home, too. Kids who have parents who drink a lot of water and keep bottled water at home will be more likely to gravitate to water. Kids who have access to soda, will gravitate to soda.
Despite the pros and cons, I feel the movement is in the right direction and I appreciate you raising important questions to keep the debate moving forward even more. Clearly there is more ground to cover in helping our kids eat and drink in a more healthy way and airing the issues is an important first step.
Thanks for reading my blog and letting me know you and your medical librarian colleagues find it so useful! Always nice to hear direct feedback.
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