SodaBriety A Success

Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008

In one of the largest Healthy South Dakota challenges to date, 112 teams and more than 1,000 individuals cut down on sweetened beverages during May and drank 11,000 gallons of water instead. The goal of the Sodabriety Healthy Challenge was to get people drinking more water and fewer sweetened beverages, which are associated with unintended weight gain, reduced milk consumption, dental cavities and erosion of tooth enamel. The department gave out more than 1,800 free water bottles to help participants increase their water consumption.

It was great to see so many people with an interest in replacing some of the sweetened drinks in their diet with water, said Kristin Biskeborn, State Nutritionist for the Department of Health. It's easy to miss just how many calories sugar-sweetened beverages can add to your daily intake.