Health researchers: Bloomberg’s sugary drink ban will fail
Who thinks New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nanny-state ban on (some) large sugary drinks not only won’t work, but will backfire? The very researchers whose work Bloomberg cited as justification for proposing the ban. From The Atlantic:
Yes, we have found that when people are given larger portions, they do drink or eat substantially more. But to claim that these results imply that the ban will be effective is to ignore our larger body of work. In our experiments, subjects were given larger or smaller portions of food in a dining or party setting, where they were unlikely to notice portion size. It is exactly because participants weren’t paying attention that we got the results we did.
The mayor’s approach, however, overtly denies people portions they are used to be able to get whenever they want them. In similar lab settings, this kind of approach has inspired various forms of rebellion among study participants. For example, openly serving someone lowfat or reduced-calorie meals tends to lead to increased fat or calorie consumption over the whole day. People reason that because they were forced to be good for one meal, they can splurge on snacks and desserts at later meals.
The researchers, Prof. Brian Wansink and David Just of Cornell University, note the danger of taking a (pardon the pun) ham-fisted approach to health policy is that it will discourage future attempts to promote good health. And they leave no doubt that Bloomberg’s approach will fail:
150 years of research in food economics tells us that people get what they want. Someone who buys a 32-ounce soft drink wants a 32-ounce soft drink. He or she will go to a place that offers fountain refills, or buy two. If the people who want them don’t have much money, they might cut back on fruits or vegetables or a bit of their family meal budget.
Who buys large soft drinks? It’s not just the people who may have some disregard for their weight. It may also be the construction worker who buys a single drink and nurses it all day. It may be the family of three who decides to split a single drink to save money.
They also point out that Bloomberg might have been more successful had he created incentives for beverage companies to promote their lower-calorie products — and that he expressly rejected such an approach.
It seems to me the researchers’ explanations strike at the heart of the reason we can’t legislate good habits without resorting to Draconian measures (in this case, for example, a total ban on sugary drinks — although even that would fail if the ban didn’t extend well beyond New York City’s borders). And, of course, unintended consequences that could end up being worse than the intended ones.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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228 comments Add your comment
JohnnyReb
June 19th, 2012
7:56 am
Dear stands – making money and governing properly don’t go hand in hand. I’m not jealous of Bloomberg. I just shake my head there are so many fools in NY city that continue to put him in office. It’s the same affliction suffered by Atlanta and Fulton County. The next one is puzzling, because Bloomberg is anti-freedom. I dont think one can be for liberty and also for Bloomberg.
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
8:02 am
Cute, nelson.
ok, if anyone’s actually interested in what Schumer is advocating…
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP4246bcf1bc34415084a04c4369c122b7.html
Sure, one can probably assume his advocacy is based on solely a desire to help out a couple of local (NY State) businesses. But I’d like to hear anyone tell me why this type of yogurt, which has a much higher protein:carb ratio than ordinary yogurt, shouldn’t be recognized as a high protein food source by the dept. of Agriculture.
Can someone give me a good reason why it shouldn’t?
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
8:03 am
Whoever namejacked @@ ought to get a life. Jeez.
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
8:06 am
I’m not jealous of Bloomberg.
Oh, I know. Just having a go at the comments formula, not at the specifics of your statement. (And I know the word “idiot” was hyperbole; obviously he’s quite functional and probably can even dress himself.) That said…
I dont think one can be for liberty and also for Bloomberg.
you’re not really basing this broad-brush statement on this one proposal by this mayor, are you? You’ve got another example or three to cite, yes?
carlosgvv
June 19th, 2012
8:11 am
Barry – 8:05
I think the school bell just rang. Time for your first 8th grade summer school class to start.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 19th, 2012
8:51 am
I’m just curious, I can make an off topic comment and get scolded for it within five minutes, how does all this filth^^ stay up there for hours?
JohnnyReb
June 19th, 2012
8:51 am
stands – of course I have other examples of Bloombery folly, and one goes bang.
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
8:55 am
and one goes bang.
if by some chance you mean his stance on gun control, he’d be a pretty lousy mayor if he didn’t advocate positions a clear majority of his constituents favor.
Aquagirl
June 19th, 2012
9:11 am
I’m just curious, I can make an off topic comment and get scolded for it within five minutes
Timing is everything in life. I’m sure when daddy gets home those posts will be gone.
But I’m just curious why someone who treats this place like a verbal toilet even cares. Bitter you can’t spew about Michelle Obama’s @$$ in even greater detail and get away with it?
iggy
June 19th, 2012
9:14 am
Screw the Greeks and their smelly yogurt.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 19th, 2012
9:21 am
You can always spot a slobbering liberal, they’ll be the ones defending the profane by pointing out the trivial.
Either that or they are worshiping michelle obozo’s caboose.
Take your pick.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 19th, 2012
9:27 am
Ever notice how you can say the most heinous and treasonous things imaginable against the United States of America and they solicit not a peep from any nearby liberals?
However, make a comment about the gigantic proportions of mrs. obozo’s posterior and the same liberals go all colonial on you?
Don’t tread on her!
I regret that I have but one life to give for my first ladies rump!
The a$$ slanderers are coming! The a$$ slanderers are coming!
Dusty
June 19th, 2012
10:17 am
ATTENTION: Miss Manners has just called. She is having an emergency session on “Polite & Pleasing Pleasantries for Perplexing Personalities in Perilous Places!” or “Better Insults for Better Times”
Come one. Come all. Get a lift! Miss Manners will be serving sugary 32 oz soft drinks..
1961_Xer
June 19th, 2012
10:32 am
Once again Kyle paints the kettle black by ignoring the nanny state conservatives have built with their failed war on drugs
Sorry , but since the “war on drugs” officially began (George HW Bush), we have had 12 years of Republicans in the WH, and 12 years of Democrats, and ALL have prosecuted the “war on drugs”. In fact, the Democrats were the ONLY party of have a near bulletproof majority in all of House, Senate and WH, and they failed to act. If any party is more responsible than the other for perpetuating this foolishness, it is the Democrats. But, at the federal level, both parties have eagerly accepted the power that comes with prosecuting the war on drugs, and both are at fault.
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
10:33 am
mrs. obozo’s posterior
“You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”
Ring any bells?
Don't Tread
June 19th, 2012
10:38 am
“he’d be a pretty lousy mayor if he didn’t advocate positions a clear majority of his constituents favor”
He’d be [is] a pretty lousy mayor if he didn’t adhere to the Constitution. Under that standard, he should be pushing for repeal of the Sullivan law, or pulling an 0bama and refusing to enforce it. But no, adhering to the Constitution is just not in the liberal playbook. In fact, he adds this “stop and frisk” BS to the mix. Imagine if Kasim Reed were to implement such a thing…he’d be removed from office so fast his head would spin.
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
10:52 am
he should be pushing for repeal of the Sullivan law
Oh, ok. Thanks for reminding me of the “Local control/states rights for me, but not for thee” ethos of the modern Teaper, Don’t Tread. It had slipped my mind, earlier.
/drive-by
iggy
June 19th, 2012
10:53 am
Kasim Reed? LMAO…yet anotther of Andy Youngs incompetent protege’s
ND
June 19th, 2012
11:11 am
Oh yeah, let’s all get bent out of shape over the relatively irrelevant sugary drink ban and continue to ignore the blatant constitutional violations Bloomberg endorses through his stop and frisk program.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 19th, 2012
11:13 am
stands, what you’re deflecting from isn’t a state’s rights / local control issue, but one of limited government according to the U.S. Constitution.
Just because a local entity decides they wish to enact something doesn’t automatically make it the right thing to do if it violates the above principle.
Jill
June 19th, 2012
11:16 am
Enter your comments here
@@
June 19th, 2012
11:21 am
His moves “fit a disturbing pattern of expansion of executive power,” constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, who usually sides with progressive ideals, tells Politico. “This is a President who is now functioning as a super legislator” who is “effectively negating parts of the criminal code because he disagrees with them. That does go beyond the pale.”
One would think, but then Obama DOESN’T think when he’s in full campaign mode, which is always.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0616/Obama-immigration-order-Does-audacity-of-hope-mean-unchecked-presidential-power/(page)/2
md
June 19th, 2012
11:25 am
Obama must be using the old union tactic of clogging up the system to delay the inevitable…….sending case after case to the SC will surely keep them busy for awhile…..keeps them out of Hawaii I guess.
md
June 19th, 2012
11:32 am
As greece struggles with the only options they have left…..austerity and austerity……might not be too long before we cross that line. I guess the good side of it all would be the fact that crises have a way of hitting the reset button on priorities and work ethic……the ultimate survival of the fittest may well be on the way if we continue at 1+T every year.
JohnnyReb
June 19th, 2012
11:50 am
stands – so you believe a majority of residents within Bloomberg’s control want gun control? I doubt it. Even if they do, there is one little obstacle that keeps getting in the way, thank heaven.
Don't Tread
June 19th, 2012
11:56 am
“Liberals” and “limited government” don’t mix very well…
stands for decibels
June 19th, 2012
12:40 pm
so you believe a majority of residents within Bloomberg’s control want gun control? I doubt it.
Guy keeps getting re-elected. I can’t recall ever reading a single news story out of NYC where this was a serious bone of contention with his constituency.
headin’ upstairs.
kit Carson Hamm
June 21st, 2012
5:35 pm
Is not the sugary drink because peoples are too fat and lazy and that’s the truth.