Coke Among Soft Drink Giants Pushing for Less Calorie Intake
Coca-Cola is among the drink companies who have pledged to reduce the number of beverage calories consumed per person by 2025.
The push for fewer calories was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting on Tuesday.
PepsiCo and the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group were among the other drink giants also taking part.
“I think self-regulation is better than getting regulation from the outside, so I think they’re taking a step in the right direction by saying ‘Let’s do this ourselves before we have an external entity coming and telling us what our product should look like,’” says Dr. Sundar Bharadwaj, a marketing professor at the University of Georgia.
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, created by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association, put this agreement together.
An audio version of this story.
Experts think this is a win-win situation: lower calorie drinks will likely sell well among the younger population and many parents want less sugary products for their kids.
“There’s quite a bit of backlash against highly sugared foods and beverages and so it’s to their advantage to make their image look better for the public,” says Connie Crawley, a registered dietician at UGA.
Dr. Howell Wechsler, the CEO of the Alliance, says a number of methods will be used to increase interest in reduced calorie drinks.
That will include marketing, outreach efforts and smaller serving sizes.
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