San Francisco supervisors who have proposed a sugary drink tax for the city's November ballot said they were encouraged by a statewide poll released today that found nearly 80 percent of Bay Area residents support such a tax.
The latest nonpartisan Field Poll found that 67 percent of the voting public in California supports a tax on soda and other sugary drinks, with the revenue going for school nutrition and physical activity programs.
That number jumps to 78 percent in the Bay Area, according to the poll.Poll finds majority of Bay Area support soda tax
In 2009, UCSF Endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig made waves when he referred to sugar as "poison" and one of the major reasons behind continually high obesity rates. In "Sugar is Poison", Lustig prescribes four simple guidelines for parents coping with kids who are too heavy:
- Get rid of every sugared liquid in the house. Kids should drink only water and milk.
- Provide carbohydrates associated with fiber.
- Wait 20 minutes before serving second portions.
- Have kids buy their “screen time” minute-for-minute with physical activity.
The Director of UCSF's Center for Vulnerable Populations, Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo agrees that minorities’ health would benefit most from beverage sugar tax. To curb consumption, taxing sugar-sweetened beverages would be a solution, "resulting in lower rates of diabetes and heart disease, and these health benefits are expected to be greatest for the low-income, Hispanic and African-American Californians who are at highest risk of diabetes, according to a new analysis led by researchers at UC San Francisco."
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