More Americans say they’re avoiding soda now compared to 12 years ago, according to a new poll from Gallup.
Soda, pop, or Coke: call it whatever you want, but nearly two-thirds of Americans avoid it
About 63 percent of Americans say they avoid soda in 2014, compared to 41 percent in 2002. Less than 25 percent include soda in their diet, compared to 36 percent in 2002. More Americans are also giving thought to whether soda should be in their diet at all.
As Gallup’s results show, Americans have been moving away from soda for some time now. The latest Beverage-Digest found Americans’ carbonated drink consumption in 2013 dropped by 3 percentage points from 2012, nearly double the 1.6 percent drop in consumption of refreshment beverages, which includes everything from energy drinks to iced tea to bottled water, overall. Beverage-Digest noted that 2013 was the ninth year in a row soda consumption fell.
Still, it could be a long time before Americans completely ditch soda. Coke still made up nearly one-fifth of the refreshment beverage market in 2013, according to Beverage-Digest. In second place, Pepsi made up nearly one-tenth.
A 2013 Credit Suisse report, meanwhile, found Americans still drink much more soda than the rest of the world.
Although the trend is now moving in a healthier direction, America’s high consumption of soda is one reason many experts believe obesity and diabetes are on the rise. That’s why some medical experts now support harsher regulations on sugar. In a previous interview with Vox, Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco, argued sugar should be treated like a drug.
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