Re: Pop guzzling shows no sign of slowing down, Active Living, Jan. 18, 2012.
In response to Evan Mckay’s recent column on soft drink consumption the Canadian Beverage Association, would like to point out that the column relied on consumption data from the United States rather than readily available Canadian data.
Statistics Canada data from 2010 demonstrates that Canadian food and beverage consumption is significantly different from those of our Southern neighbours.
In fact since 1999 consumption of soft drinks in Canada has decreased by 30 per cent and of the balance close to 25 per cent of the choices being made in this category by Canadian consumer are now no or low calorie products.
In fact per capita consumption of soft drinks in Canada is less than half of per capita American consumption.
At the same time as soft drink consumption in Canada has decreased by 30 per cent, obesity levels of Canadian have increased by more than 18 per cent.
No other fact clearly illustrates that there is no link between soft drinks and obesity as these two data points.
Obesity is a complex and serious issue, and no single food or beverage can be held responsible for weight gain.
Health Canada’s community health survey indicates that in 2004 Canadians obtained 2.5 per cent of their daily caloric intake from soft drinks ( a figure that is below two per cent in 2012 given the changes in the market outlined above).
This is a percentage roughly on par with salad dressings and oil and means that 97.5 per cent of Canadians calories comes from other sources.
They key to maintaining a healthy weight is to balance calories consumed with calories expended through out the day.
As a Canadian publication, in the future we would hope that you would provide your readers the readily available relevant Canadian information.
Justin Sherwood
President
Canadian Beverage Association