The Coca Cola company is the number one beverage company despite what it is calling attacks on the industry by health minded groups. For years, Coke refused to address the piles of research that has suggested that sugary beverages, including sodas of various kinds contributes to weight gain even within an otherwise healthy diet. Finally, Coke has announced a change in their advertising with several two minute ads that will air on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC during those networks' highest rated shows. Each add will suggest that weight gain is caused by consuming too many calories, not just soda calories. The ads will also highlight the concept of choosing drinks that have fewer calories as part of an overall healthy diet.

A decade long study of more than thirty thousand Americans has found that drinking soda and other sugary beverages may cause an interaction with the body's genes that affect weight loss. That interaction will then increase the risk of obesity. Diet soda, long thought to be the saving grace for people who liked soda but not the calories has also been proven to work in the opposite direction, often leading to weight gain.

Obesity and soda have long been linked, no matter how much Coke wants to pretend that to be untrue. Their ad agrees that too many calories causes weight claim but still accepts no responsibility for obesity. The second spot does the job slightly better but still does not say that soda is a big factor for weight gain despite all of the evidence to support that as fact.

In response to the ongoing obesity crisis and the increase in health care costs attributed to it, officials have tried many different things. In most public schools, soft drinks are no longer allowed to be sold and all soda machines have been removed or can only sell water or fruit drinks. In New York City, a cap on soft drink sizes will limit the cup size of all drinks sold in public venues such as restaurants, movie theaters and sporting events. While there are many vocal critics of that cap, there are others who are not only interested but may possibly doing the same in their own cities.

There are really no redeeming qualities for soda. It might taste good but that is the limit to its "benefits". The potentially bad ingredients outweigh the good in a frightening way. It is better to drink water and save those calories for real foods instead.