Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (And Winning) 1st Edition by Dr. Marion Nestle (PDF)

Description

Sodas are astonishing products. Little more than flavored sugar-water, these drinks cost practically nothing to produce or buy, yet have turned their makers–principally Coca-Cola and PepsiCo–into a multibillion-dollar industry with global recognition, distribution, and political power. Billed as “refreshing,” “tasty,” “crisp,” and “the real thing,” sodas also happen to be so well established to contribute to poor dental hygiene, higher calorie intake, obesity, and type-2 diabetes that the first line of defense against any of these conditions is to simply stop drinking them. Habitually drinking large volumes of soda not only harms individual health, but also burdens societies with runaway healthcare costs. So how did products containing absurdly inexpensive ingredients become multibillion dollar industries and international brand icons, while also having a devastating impact on public health?In Soda Politics, the 2016 James Beard Award for Writing & Literature Winner, Dr. Marion Nestle answers this question by detailing all of the ways that the soft drink industry works overtime to make drinking soda as common and accepted as drinking water, for adults and children. Dr. Nestle, a renowned food and nutrition policy expert and public health advocate, shows how sodas are principally miracles of advertising; Coca-Cola and PepsiCo spend billions of dollars each year to promote their sale to children, minorities, and low-income populations, in developing as well as industrialized nations. And once they have stimulated that demand, they leave no stone unturned to protect profits. That includes lobbying to prevent any measures that would discourage soda sales, strategically donating money to health organizations and researchers who can make the science about sodas appear confusing, and engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to create goodwill and silencecritics. Soda Politics follows the money trail wherever it leads, revealing how hard Big Soda works to sell as much of their products as possible to an increasingly obese world.But Soda Politics does more than just diagnose a problem–it encourages readers to help find solutions. From Berkeley to Mexico City and beyond, advocates are successfully countering the relentless marketing, promotion, and political protection of sugary drinks. And their actions are having an impact–for all of the hardball and softball tactics the soft drink industry employs to maintain the status quo, soda consumption has been flat or falling for years. Health advocacy campaigns are now the single greatest threat to soda companies’ profits. Soda Politics provides readers with the tools they need to keep up pressure on Big Soda in order to build healthier and more sustainable food systems.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review 2016 James Beard Award for Writing & Literature Winner”The soda industry is a powerful economic operator. Economic power readily translates into political power. Soda Politics is exactly the kind of carefully-researched investigative reporting needed to open the eyes of the public and parliamentarians to the health hazards of what is, as the author rightly notes, essentially liquid candy in a bottle.” –Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization”Long recognized as an important and informed voice in our national and international discussions on nutrition and health, Marion Nestle has written another book that will keep us talking. With an impressive combination of scholarship and advocacy, Dr. Nestle takes an unflinching look at the soda industry, its products and the impact on health. Soda Politics deserves the attention of the public and policy makers, and should make us all think more carefully about choices we can make to improve health and well-being.” –Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration”Marion Nestle is one of the greatest muckrakers of our time, and what she does is vitally important-for our health, our environment, and for future generations. Here, she wages war against the soda titans with such piercing clarity and so many irrefutable truths that all other arguments crumble.” –Alice Waters, Founder and Proprietor of Chez Panisse”Comprehensive and well-written, this book will help frame a thoughtful public policy debate about nutrition and the societal impacts and costs of obesity.” –Ann M. Veneman, Former US Secretary of Agriculture and Former Executive Director of UNICEF”What happens when the food industry’s most insightful critic turns her sights on soda? This razor-sharp, fun to read, plan-of-battle for one of the greatest public health fights of our time. Big soda may have all the money, but those who would enter this fray, as we all should, now have their champion.” –Michael Moss, Author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us “For decades, soda companies have amassed fortunes off drinks that are making us sick. It took someone like Marion Nestle to cut through the spin and uncover the high cost of cheap sodas.” –Robert Kenner, Director/Producer, Food Inc. and Merchants of Doubt”No book in history has so completely laid bare the soda scourge that touches every corner of the world. Marion Nestle shows how this happened, its impact on human health and well-being, who the players are, and, most importantly, what might be done. This is the right book at the right time.” –Dr. Kelly Brownell, Dean, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University”An outstanding manual for health educators, activists, and anyone seeking information about the soda industry and its impact on health.” – Library Journal”If you have been exhausted by the flip-flop of Brexit politics in recent weeks, Soda Politics offers a refreshing break – a great read for dietitians.” -NHDmag About the Author Dr. Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1986-88, she was senior nutrition policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services and managing editor of the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. She has been a member of the FDA Food Advisory Committee and Science Board, the USDA/DHHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and American Cancer Society committees that issue dietary guidelines for cancer prevention. She is also the author of Eat Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics (Rodale, 2013), Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics (Berkeley, 2012), Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (Berkeley, 2010), Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health(Berkeley, 2007), which won awards from the Association for American Publishers and the James Beard Foundation; and What to Eat (North Point, 2006), which was named one of Amazon’s top ten books of 2006. You can read her blog at www.foodpolitics.com.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Big soda is trippin. Marion does a great job exposing the numbers. This is why I love sodas like Perfy.

⭐An excellent eye-opener that delves into how the Big Corporates like the Coca-Cola company “manage” the marketing of their products. Knowing well their products like the Coke are nothing more than sugared drinks with zero nutritional value and have serious harmful effects on humans, these companies have historically and systematically undermined the advice of groups promoting good health. The book is very well researched and makes abundantly clear how people are duped into buying products that are harmful to them. One such example being how the popular nutrition “experts” are co-opted into “soft-marketing” a company’s products by equivocating about their harmful effects. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about being well-informed about their food habits and staying healthy over the course of their lives.

⭐Full disclosure, I spent a significant portion of my adult life in and around the soft drink industry, in marketing, no less. At the beginning of the book I was actually impressed by the author’s understanding of how the industry is structured. And I also agree with her that soft drinks shouldn’t be allowed in schools where the the students are too young to make informed choices about their diet.Beyond that, I think that the book looses all credibility by blaming the industry for some consumers’ behavior. Yes, the soft drink industry is a billion dollar enterprise and it does spend millions on advertising. But coming from marketing I also know that there is no greater force in the marketplace than consumer choice, including the choice to say no to buying and using a product,or to use it in a responsible way. In the marketplace individuals and multi billion dollar companies are equals in that regard.At one point in the book, the author blames the industry (paraphrasing) for for trying to “shift the responsibility for soft drink consumption onto the consumer”. With all respect to Dr Nestle, the soft drink market is a buyers market. When the consumer stands in the soft drink aisle of a supermarket or before a vending machine, he or she is in charge of purchase and ultimately consumption. Companies can’t and don’t “shift” the power of choice. Nor can any amount of advertising or marketing take that choice away.Yes,some consumers overuse soft drinks to their detriment, but there are hundreds of thousands of consumer products, beyond food and beverage, that can cause harm by misuse or overuse. When people choose unwisely, bad things can happen. It really is no more complicated than that.

⭐Everybody likes sweet stuff. We are programmed to go for the sweetness. But not all the time, every day, in such concentrated high doses. Sugary drink companies have hijacked our common sense through outright lies, savvy advertising, and buying off our politicians and some unscrupulous scientists. This book presents the facts through historical timelines. It is shocking to see how Big Soda companies closely parallel that of death merchant tobacco companies. Read for yourself and protect you, your family, friends and loved ones from this sweet poison. Big Soda is clearly a Big Health destroyer…big time…

⭐I had to stop reading on page 213 because the book was clearly a waste of my time. The following statement made it clear that this was a poorly researched book: ” Because all purchases are done electronically, such information ought to be easy to collect, but the USDA claims it is not authorized to collect data on SNAP purchases.” It is the part “..claims it is not authorized…” Well that is a good question. And the best part, easily verifiable. However, the exceprt above means either 1.) The author didn’t bother to check if there was a relevant CFR or law that prevents the USDA from collecting data. or 2.) They did, and they didn’t like the answer and so they ignored it. Either way, it means that the research for this book is highly suspect and not worth my time. After all, if I can’t trust one statement, then how can I trust any of them?

⭐I don’t know how much I read, and I don’t remember much, but I think it was probably pretty good. Something about capitalism run amok, I think.

⭐When you realize the myriad ways that Coke and Pepsi manipulate public opinion, warp nutrition research, twist the law-making process, and seek ever-sneakier ways to get children hooked on their product, it would be excusable if you merely ranted. Marion Nestle does not. Instead she presents a meticulous, careful accounting of all this. The U.S. seems to be making some progress in the soda wars, and Marion Nestle deserves a sizable share of the credit.

⭐Well researched book highlighting everything from the nature of the beverage industry to the industry tricks used keep making money off our country’s waistline. This book highlights many ways individuals can take action in their own household as well as their community and at the national level.

⭐OMG, this is really disturbing

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