Last year, the three largest beverage companies in the United States (Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes) announced they were removing high-calorie drinks from schools–a move widely applauded by nutrition experts.
Now, many of those same experts are accusing those companies of reneging. It seems that the original deal has been tweaked to allow enhanced waters like Vitaminwater and Propel Fitness Water. The thing is, soft-drink makers had already noticed more youngsters were switching from soda to “mid-calorie” drinks like sparkling juice and enhanced water, so much so that Coke recently bought the company that makes Vitaminwater for $4 billion.
That’s a problem, because enhanced water is spiked with not only vitamins most kids don’t really need, but sugar. “This is a huge loophole that will bring lots more sugar and calories into kids’ diets,” said Margo Wootan, Director of Nutrition Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. (New York Times)
