New York ad campaign goes after soft-drink tipplers

Are you drinking yourself fat?

If you're a regular soft-drink tippler, New York health officials are out to make you think so.

With the recent release of a series of a stomach-churning Internet videos in which a man is shown guzzling a tumbler of liquefied fat, city officials escalated a budding international war on sugary beverages aimed at discouraging consumption and tempering rising levels of obesity.

The soft-drink battlefront in Manhattan originally began taking shape in August, when officials with the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene launched a print campaign that asked, "Are you pouring on the pounds?," and depicted soft and other sweetened drinks transforming into red-veined streams of fat.

Labeled "health bulletins," the ads spurred the debate over soft drinks' culpability for North America's widespread obesity.

When the sequel - the gag-inducing, fat-guzzling video - was released over the Internet in December, its shock value drove a viral spread that went well beyond New York's city limits.

"Sugary drinks shouldn't be a part of our everyday diets," said New York health commissioner Thomas Farley. "This video is playful, but the message is serious. Sugar-sweetened beverages are fueling the obesity epidemic."

The video further stirred frustrations in the beverage industry, which likens the assault to that once waged against cigarette companies.

For months, they have battled against the banning of their products in school vending machines, and they've mounted a lobby in Washington to counter calls for a federal tax on sugary soft drinks that has caught the attention of President Obama.

Research published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (co-authored by Farley) suggested a beverage tax might lower consumption, drive weight loss and reduce obesity-related health risks.

Industry members insist there is no definitive link between fat and soft drinks.

"They're talking about fat and not calories. Our products are fat-free," said Justin Sherwood, president of Refreshments Canada, a trade group representing beverage companies and bottlers. "Obesity is a complex issue that is not caused by one single food or beverage."

The American Beverage Association suggests city health officials focus on teaching people to balance their calorie intake instead of vilifying soft drinks.

In the academic sphere, there is disagreement over the relationship between excessive consumption of sugar and body weight. Industry members cite a 2005 Queen's University study of children's obesity in 34 countries that did not find a link between obesity and soft-drink consumption. However, the study co-authored by Farley suggests there is indeed a link.

New York officials, who have developed a reputation as food-policy pioneers (they have compelled restaurant chains to post calorie counts on menus and forced restaurants to phase out trans fats) are forging ahead.

"They're certainly doing more than any other health department in the country," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that favors a soft-drink tax.