THE SODA WAR - A WAR FOR OUR STOMACH SHARE
By: Louisa A. Chinedu-Okeke
Can you recall a single birthday celebration, party or gathering of some sort where a Soda was not served? I can't. This shows how integral Sodas have become in our life. Some individuals cannot even go through a day without a bottle or more of Soda. In case you are wondering, Sodas are sugar sweetened beverages that are mostly carbonated. Examples of Sodas include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Seven Up, Dr. Pepper etc. Fancy drinking slightly over 3 gallons of Coke in one month! Well, actually, in 2011, consumption of Sodas hit 32 gallons a year per person.
Somehow, Soda has found its way to the top percentile of ubiquitous foods. Even in areas locked away from civilization, people have seen and drank a Soda. Could this be by chance, or are sodas just so wonderful that they are close competitors to something as basic and necessary as water? Believe it or not, nothing happens by chance. There is, and has always been a soda war. Sodas didn't just happen on our supermarket shelves.
Behind that simple bottle of coke you take every afternoon with your lunch, lies a huge Soda industry with big companies competing heavily to maintain their stake with you the consumer. These companies have battled to dominate the business. You might be wondering how the fight between big soda companies should be a problem to you or in our recent naija parlance -'who soda war epp?'
Well, you might want to get more concerned about this than you would think. This is because as always when 2 elephants are fighting, it is the grass that suffers! In plain terms, companies have gone through great lengths to ensure they maintain their market share or should I say - 'Stomach Share'. And this is not without detrimental health effects on you the consumer:
1. Increased sugar consumption - In order to make their products more appealing and alluring to consumers in comparison to their competition; soda companies have gradually (well maybe not gradually) increased the amount of sugar in their sodas. So the thinking is - the sweeter the taste, the more people buy and the greater the market share. For instance, 20-ounce (59cl) bottles could contain as much as 15 teaspoons of sugar while 64 (189cl) ounce bottles can contain 44 teaspoons of sugar.
2. These companies are shaping your drinking habits - The increasing ubiquity of these drinks is now teaching children what drinks should taste like. So more children associate sweet with drinks, no wonder you find more people saying that water is 'boring'.
3. Eating habits are also being re-shaped - Ever wondered how come we have fast food joints serving all those combo meals that come with a gigantic bottle of soda? The kind of meals you can find in our Mr. Biggs, Johnny Rockets etc. What about the 'all-you-could-drink' beverage bars where you can get as many refills as you want? These are all strategies of the Soda companies to get you drinking more and more of their product. This really is a battle for disposable incomes of the consumer and it inevitably cultures you into thinking that a Soda should go with any meal you take!
4. Increased calories in the same serving - with about 40 gallons of sugary soda consumed per year per person, a person would take 60,000 calories and 3,700 teaspoons of sugar per person. Alarming figures, yet true. Remember that these calories in the soda end up stored in the body as fat.
5. Consumption of calories via liquids tends to be higher than solids. This is because our bodies are less aware of excessive intake when the calories are liquid. When we take in solids, the body mechanisms have been cultured to give us a check when we overeat. This is not the case with liquids.
There is a soda war going on, and it is about how many consumers/heavy users can be hooked to the product to drive market share and profits. And believe it or not, it does affect you in the long run. So, when next you reach for a bottle of Coke (or any Soda), just imagine yourself chewing 10-15 teaspoons of sugar alongside your meal.
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