The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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    Failed policy: Banning sugar-sweetened drinks in schools

    Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago determined the effect of state policies that regulate beverages among adolescents.

    First, the details.

    • Students in 5th and 8th grades were studied.
    • In-school sugar-sweetened beverages access, in-school purchasing behavior, and consumption (in and out of school) in 8th grade were recorded.

    And, the results.

    • In states that banned soda…
      • The proportions of 8th-grade students that reported in-school sugar-sweetened beverages access and purchasing were similar (67% and 29%, respectively) to with no beverage policy (67% and 26%, respectively).
    • In states that banned all sugar-sweetened beverages…
      • Fewer students reported in-school sugar-sweetened beverages access or purchasing after adjusting for potentially confounding factors.
    • Results were similar among students who reported access to or purchasing of sugar-sweetened beverages in 5th grade vs those who did not.
    • Overall sugar-sweetened beverages consumption was not associated with state policy.
      • In each policy category, approximately 85% of students reported consuming sugar-sweetened beverages at least once in the past 7 days.
    • Supplementary analyses indicated that overall consumption had only a modest association with in-school sugar-sweetened beverage access.

    The bottom line?

    The authors concluded, “State policies that ban all sugar-sweetened beverages in middle schools appear to reduce in-school access and purchasing of sugar-sweetened beverages but do not reduce overall consumption.”

    Why do we continue to allow politicians to institute policies without pre-testing whether they will accomplish their stated goals?

    11/8/11 19:10 JR

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