The War on Soda

[F]ruit is good… and therefore fruit juice is good. Give the kids fruit juice instead of soda. Juice ads brag that fruit juice is the “natural” drink.

What the ads don’t tell you is that fruit juice contains as much sugar as Coke and Pepsi: ten teaspoons of sugar in a 12 oz. glass.

The Los Angeles Times notes that, ounce for ounce, fruit juice has more sugar and is higher-calorie than soda. If the fight is generally against "obesity," then, is the right way to go to replace one high-sugar drink with another?

Obviously, natural fruit juices contain vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that soda does not. But we're not fretting over the under-nourishment of America's youth, we're fretting over the calorie overconsumption.

What we should be doing is teaching diet moderation, not misguidedly crusading against soda.