Thursday, August 25, 2011
News Lower-Income Brooklynites Drink the Most Soda
Posted by Ross Barkan on Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 12:10 PM
Only 11.2 percent of those two affluent neighborhoods reported drinking one sweetened beverage a day. On the other hand, nearly half the population—45.7 percent—of Flatbush enjoyed a soda everyday, almost the same as in the South Bronx. The Health Department released the figures yesterday, shocking Flatbush's city councilman, Jumaane Williams. "It's disturbing," he told the tabloid.
Mayor Bloomberg might be wrong about a lot of things, but he's been right on at least one issue: food stamps should not be used to buy sugary beverages. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, though, recently blocked the city from implementing an experimental two-year ban. As the mayor said, "We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything else being proposed anywhere else in the country—and at little or no cost to taxpayers."
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