Gemma Saylor, RD, CDN

Director Rethink Your Drink @ Work

Rethink Your Drink is a grant program funded by the New York State Department of Health – Healthy Heart Program. The program is facilitated by Mather Hospital and ends March 2015.

◦ The free program is available to any private business located in Suffolk county with 25+ employees.

The purpose of the grant is to create healthy workplaces/spaces where the healthy beverage choice is the easy choice.

It is about making the best choice (water, seltzer) the most visible and the most accessible beverage.

Because what you drink matters.

Sugary drinks are

the single

biggest contributor

to the nation’s

obesity epidemic.

Why do we care about healthier beverage choices?

Are You Pouring on the Pounds? How to cut back on soda, juice and other sugary beverages. New York City Health Department, June 2010.

Source: Bleich, SN, Wang YC, Wang Y, Gortmaker SL: Increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among US adults: 1988-1994 to 1999-2004. Am J Clin Nutr 2009; 89: 372:381.

In NYS, the numbers are alarming

Now 6 in 10 New York State adults are either overweight

or obese.

Obesity now costs Americans more in healthcare than smoking

• Total obesity-related healthcare costs in New York State are more than $11.8 billion annually

Up from $7.6B in 2009.

Diabetes

Heart disease

High blood pressure

Asthma

Infertility

Stroke

Arthritis

Liver disease

Cancer

Depression

Are You Pouring on the Pounds? How to cut back on soda, juice and other sugary beverages. New York City Health Department, June 2010.

Obesity contributes to many

serious health problems

Consumption of sweet beverages and type 2 diabetes incidence in

European adults: results from EPIC-InterAct. Diabetologia. 2013

Jul;56(7):1520-30. doi: 10.1007/s00125-013-2899-8. Epub 2013 Apr 26.

Warning!Daily intake of sugar

for an adult woman

should be no more

than 6 teaspoons (tsp)

and no more than 9

tsp for adult men.

Warning!Just one 20 oz bottle of Pepsi has

17 tsp of sugar, which far exceeds

the American Heart Association’s

daily maximum intake levels.

Classifying Drinks: Red, Yellow, Green

Drink Rarely, If at all

Drink Occasionally

Drink Plenty

Drink Plenty

Water

Seltzer water

Skim or 1% milk

Drink Rarely, If at all

Are You Pouring on the Pounds? How to cut back on soda, juice and other sugary beverages. New York City Health Department, June 2010.

Soda

Energy drinks

Sweetened iced tea

Sweetened coffee drinks

Lemonade

Fruit drinks or punch

Sports drinks

Powdered drinks

Sweetened flavored waters

Malt drinks

100% juice

Diet (artificially sweetened) soda and drinks

Low-calorie, low sugar drinks

Diet Drinks:While there is strong evidence to support cutting back on sugary drinks, the science is not as clear when it come to diet (artificially sweetened) drinks and weight control. In fact, regular consumption of diet beverages may even be associated with weight gain.

Diet drinks may be useful as a transition step away from sugar sweetened beverages, but consumption is not encouraged over the long term.

Choose drinks that are naturally free of added sugars, and artificial sweeteners, most often.

Drink Occasionally

Sugary drinks are available everywhere. ◦ Where are they not available?!

Marketers advertise them heavily.◦ In 2010 alone, The Coca-Cola Company spent

$2.9 billion on advertising*

Portion sizes keep growing.

Are You Pouring on the Pounds? How to cut back on soda, juice and other sugary beverages. New York City Health Department, June 2010* Business Insider - http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-coca-cola-2011-6?op=1

Stock the fridge with seltzer, unsweetened tea, low-fat milk and other low-calorie drinks.

Serve cold tap water during meals. NYS tap water is delicious, clean and free!

Read labels. Choose drinks with no more than 40 calories per container.

If you buy fruit juice, make sure it’s 100% juice. Serve it in a small glass or dilute with water.

… But we spend most of our day at WORK!

Examples of changes worksites can consider:◦ Encourage water consumption

◦ Provide healthy beverages at meetings

◦ Increase the number of healthy options

in vending options

◦ Limit sale of sugar sweetened beverages

in cafeterias and other places where food is available

◦ Adjust pricing to make healthy beverages more affordable

◦ Hang educational posters by vending machines / in cafeterias.

This is a poster, provided by Rethink Your Drink @ Work,

that would be placed by vending machines or in

areas where sugary drinks are available for sale.

Hospitals are role models for health

Hospitals are committed to a culture of health and wellness (Putting the care back in HealthCARE)

Community Service Plan focusing on obesity prevention

Boston Medical Center

Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Carney Hospital

Cleveland Clinic

Children’s Hospital Boston

Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Dartmouth - Hitchcock

Fairview Hospital

Faulkner Hospital

Holy Family Hospital

Lucille Packard Children’s

Hospital

22

Massachusetts General Hospital

Merrimack Valley Hospital

Morton Hospital

Nashoba Valley Medical Center

Norwood Hospital

Quincy Medical Center

Saint Anne’s Hospital

Seattle Children’s Hospital

St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center

St. Luke’s

Tufts Medical Center

Vanguard Health Chicago (4

Hospitals)

“While we respect individual choice, selling sugar-sweetened beverages at our facility does not support our mission and vision”

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

“This is not a ban on the personal consumption of sugar-sweetened

beverages, but a sales phase-out at our facility, consistent with our role as a health

promoting hospital” Knysh (Food Service Director, Fairview)

In January 2014 The New York State Department of Health released new food and beverage standards for hospitals◦ The “Rethink Your Drink” program offers technical

assistance to hospitals as they implement the beverage standards

Machine

panels now

Aquafina

2 slots water

at eye level

2 slots

sugary

drinks

(12oz)

Before After

Complete a brief survey that will be forwarded to you by email

Vote on which changes, if any, you would like to see at your hospital

The Rethink Your Drink program will then help your

hospital implement the changes that you choose.

Nutrition Division

of the Department of

Family Medicine at

Stony Brook Medicine