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Philadelphia’s New Soda Tax

Mar 13, 2017RJacobyHealthy Living, Industry Watchindustry watch, soda, sugar content, tax

Philadelphia passed a soda tax last June, becoming the first big U.S. city to approve such a measure.

The sugary-beverages tax approved by Council adds 1.5¢ per ounce to the cost of most drinks with a sugar-based sweetener or artificial sugar substitute. The tax took effect Jan. 1. Some beverages are exempt, including baby formula; products that contain more than 50 percent milk, fresh fruit, or vegetables; and unsweetened drinks to which the buyer adds sugar, or requests that the seller adds sugar.

What? Anybody concerned with sugar content should be screaming about exempting baby formula.

Based on the reaction of many Philadelphia shoppers, plenty of people were either unaware of the new tax or didn’t understand exactly how it would work. What appears to have caught many off guard is that the tax applies to far more than just sugar-laden sodas: The tax also hits sugar-free soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, iced tea, lemonade, and even some milks and fancy bottled waters.

Responses to the tax? Trends for the future of the food industry?

Don’t scapegoat Big Sugar. Lots of food producers profited from the demonization of fat – LA Times

Oct 28, 2016RJacobyIndustry WatchDietary Guidelines, food industry, industry watch, nutrition

The recent revelation that Harvard scientists were paid off to downplay sugar’s harms in the 1960s shows how the food industry shockingly manipulated nutrition science for decades. Yet the news media has given the sugar industry too much credit. The real story about how sugar got a pass — while dietary fat and cholesterol were blamed for heart disease — reveals that other industries played a role, as did, surprisingly, many of the country’s leading scientists.

Source: Don’t scapegoat Big Sugar. Lots of food producers profited from the demonization of fat – LA Times

Coke Adds Fraud: Exposing the Beverage Giant’s Shady Research Practices | Alternet

Oct 27, 2016RJacobyIndustry WatchCoca Cola, Coke, food industry, industry watch, soda

Photo Credit: phloxii/Shutterstock.com

One of America’s once-most-trusted brands funds research downplaying the link between sugary drinks and obesity.

since 2010, Coca-Cola has distributed $120 million to various groups involved in health research and other efforts to combat the obesity epidemic…

Source: Coke Adds Fraud: Exposing the Beverage Giant’s Shady Research Practices | Alternet

Statins Are the Greatest Medical Fraud of All Time: Study Reports – Gaia Health

Oct 26, 2016RJacobyHealthy Living, Industry Watchcholesterol, high cholesterol, industry watch, statin drugs

A new study clarifies that statins are the greatest medical fraud of all time. The claims made for them are false. The amount of harm they do is staggering, resulting in millions of lives devastated and ended. The worst part of all, though, is that it was entirely predictable—but studies were designed to hide the …

Source: Statins Are the Greatest Medical Fraud of All Time: Study Reports – Gaia Health