Episode 33: Our Love of Sugary Drinks
We’ve been drinking soda for more than 100 years. Today, the fizzy drink is part of a larger category called sugar-sweetened beverages, which includes energy drinks, Dunkin’ frozen matcha lattes, giant boba teas and Starbucks strawberry açai refreshers. How did these companies tap into our innate cravings to sell us more drinkable calories than we’re supposed to eat in a week? In this episode we explore why we are so susceptible to sugar and how soda companies influenced the way we drink today, marketing their drinks aggressively (especially to children), externalizing costs, and making the consumer and society at large responsible: for our excess calorie consumption and for the waste created by single-use drink containers.
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“These are companies that do what most companies wanna do, which is to make as much money as possible by selling as much product as possible and by making that product as attractive as possible. And you know, I personally think there's just no way we're going to get them to do anything but that without considering the framework that they're working in.”
Episode guests:
Lina Ghanem
Lina is the director and founder of Saba Grocers Initiative, which partners with corner stores in Oakland, California, to serve as a conduit for communities to get healthy food, provide information that promotes health and well-being, and facilitate community empowerment.
Marion Nestle
Dr. Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, in the department she chaired from 1988-2003. She is the author, co-author or co-editor of 15 books, including “Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)”
Michael Moss
Michael is a journalist, author and speaker. He wrote “Salt, Sugar, Fat,” about highly processed foods, and “Hooked,” about addiction and free will in battle with corporate interests.
Anupama Joshi
Anupama is the vice president of programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Previously, Anupama was executive director of the Blue Sky Funders Forum, and prior to that, the founding executive director of the National Farm to School Network.
Bart Elmore
Bart is associate professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University and the 2022 recipient of the Dan David Prize. His books include “Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism” and “Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future.”
Mike Belliveau
Mike is the founder of Bend the Curve, an organization that seeks to transform the petrochemical industry so that it no longer harms people and the planet. He was the founding executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, now known as Defend Our Health, and co-founded Safer States.
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Top photo by MSM/Adobe Stock.