What can elementary schoolers have for nutritious drinks?

W: Jason Heller is a clinical nutritionist at the New York University Medical Center and a contributor to Health magazine. Hi! Jason. Good morning.
M: Hi.
W: We should make it clear that this does not ban soft drinks completely. Excuse me.(1)For elementary schoolers, nutritious drinks only and this means they can have water, and 100% juice drinks. For middle schoolers, diet soft drinks,water, sports drinks,100% juices,and low-calorie juice drinks are allowed. And for high schoolers,50% of the vending machines’ slots can be filled with soft drinks and the rest with water,juices,sports drinks and another, other non-carbonated drinks, which makes you wonder why people would pick the latter. They have the soft drinks available,so do these guidelines go far enough in your view?
M: You know they are stepping in the right directions, so we’re happy about that, but I don’t think they go far enough. But as you said,if,there are five choices of different sodas rather than ten,that seems just a little lame to me. That doesn’t make sense. They,the children can still drink soda; and they don’t really think we need soda in middle schools and high schools.
W: Well, how responsible are these sodas for making kids fat? In other words, are they getting too much blame for their obesity epidemic or do you think it’s warranted?
M: That’s such a good question.(2)The Beverage Association would say they’re getting too much blame,but studies are showing that,there was a study that came out a few years ago that showed for every 12 ounce can of soda or sugar we drink,it increased the risk of being overweight for children 60%. So,yes, it is contributing to the obesity epidemic. And we really don’t need to have soda in the schools, and it’s not healthy. It’s not nutritious, and there aren’t other options for kids!
W: But you know,some of the…, before we get to the other options, I’m just curious, what about diet beverages for kids? Because I know if we have soda in our house, it’s usually diet soda. My kids don’t drink much diet soda, but sometimes they do,and I’m kind of ambivalent about that as well,is that unhealthy for children?
M: That’s a good question! The jury is out.(3)Some studies are saying diet soda might increase the risk of children wanting to eat more and get their calories, but the research is sketchy. Occasionally a diet soda is fine, but again what’s happening is the soda is replacing diet regularly, replacing healthier things like low fat milk, so the kids aren’t getting the calcium and vitamin D they need,so it’s a problem.
W: But what about some of the high sugar drinks,you know,even these are 100% fruit juices, for example,like apple juice or even orange juice. Well, they’re healthy. I don’t want the orange juice industry that starts e-mailing me, but they’re very high in sugar and calories,too,aren’t they?
M: Well, we wanna 100% juice, we wanna it to be pasteurized, and we do wanna limit the amount,(4)8 to 12 ounces for, you know,teens and 4 to 6 ounces a day for younger folks. So we want them to have that 100% juice but we have to limit the quantity.
W: And part of the problem is the schools get a big kickback,don’t they? From the soda companies?
M: Well,I don’t know if I’d say kickback.
W: Alright,is that-?
M: They’re called pouring rights.
W: Oh, sorry.
M: And the companies pay huge amounts of money to the schools,to advertise their products.
W: They’re an important source of revenue for the schools.
M: And it puts the school on a tough position,because the schools need the money for programs for the kids,so they have to sort of sell their souls in the sense to have the products of the company there.(5)So we have to find other ways to help fund these great programs for school, sports, music, arts, things like that.
W: So bottom line, when it comes to introducing your kids to soda,you should probably try not to,really, when all of this set and done,I mean,or certainly try to limit the amount of soda, their soda intake on a daily basis, because some of these kids are starting pretty young, …soft drinks.
M: I mean,you have children,right?
W: Yes,I do.
M: Why would you wanna give a one or two-year-old, three-year-old soda? It doesn’t make sense to me. There’s no need for it.
W: So I try to keep it out of the house in general. The Coca Cola and Pepsi people are gonna kill me, but in general,you should really try to be introducing healthier beverages.
M: That’s right. You know,occasionally,as they get older, a soda is fine, but we don’t wanna it to be a daily regular part of the diet.
W: Yes,a staple.
M: Right!
W: Anyway,Jason,thanks so much for coming in this morning.
M: My pleasure.