Sugary soft drinks consumption has recently been a controversial topic revolved around public health and public policy. To the health conscious, soft drinks is recognized as a major contributor to various health issues like obesity, especially in children. With no age restriction or special taxation, soft drinks are readily available in a wide range of locations like fast food restaurants, vending machines, and supermarkets to name a few. Deeply woven into our culture, soft drinks are also highly advertised and designed to target audiences of all ages. Compared to plain water with no taste, they are highlighted as a more interesting, affordable, luxurious, and enjoyable alternative, making them the beverage of choice for many. Though soft drinks
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It has the capacity to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease along with many other chronic health conditions. People who drink 1 to 2 cans a day or more of sugar drinks are shown to have a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who rarely drank such drinks (Harvard School of Public Health, 2016). In a study that followed 40,00 men who averaged one can of a sugary drink a day over a timespan of twenty years, the risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack increased by 20%. Furthermore, a study with women bore a similar connection between cardiovascular disease and sugary beverages (Harvard School of Public Health, 2016). Adding on, another study found a 75% increase in gout risk in women and men who consumed about a can a day of sugar-gladdened soft drinks. As for obesity, Dr. Frank Hu, presented a solid case that there is enough scientific evidence to show that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumptions will reduce prevalence of obesity and its related diseases (Harvard School of Public Health). If there is a conscious effort to decrease how much people drink sugary beverages, such health risks will be assuaged and facilitate the population’s trek up the health …show more content…
First developed in the 1950s, it was first used to explain the lack of people going to free tuberculosis health screenings but has been used since to explore a variety of short and long-term health behaviors (University of Twente, n.d.). The Health Belief Model is made up of six concepts: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Taken together, they allow health educators to explain and predict a variety of health behaviors (University of Twente, n.d.). First, perceived susceptibility is one’s vulnerability to getting a health conditions. For instance, perceived susceptibility could be the perception of one’s risk of developing the diseases linked to overconsumption of sugary soft drinks like obesity and cardiovascular disease. Severity considers how serious people think these diseases are and how much their lives will be affected. For example, looking at the statistics on obesity, heart disease, shorter lifespans, and lowered quality of life and its relationship to soft drinks may instill a sense of severity to its consumption. Moving on, perceived benefits is the belief that the behavior change will bear positive results (University of Twente, n.d.). In relation to soft drink consumption, it is how much people think that decreasing the amount of soft drinks in their diet will benefit
It has the capacity to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease along with many other chronic health conditions. People who drink 1 to 2 cans a day or more of sugar drinks are shown to have a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who rarely drank such drinks (Harvard School of Public Health, 2016). In a study that followed 40,00 men who averaged one can of a sugary drink a day over a timespan of twenty years, the risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack increased by 20%. Furthermore, a study with women bore a similar connection between cardiovascular disease and sugary beverages (Harvard School of Public Health, 2016). Adding on, another study found a 75% increase in gout risk in women and men who consumed about a can a day of sugar-gladdened soft drinks. As for obesity, Dr. Frank Hu, presented a solid case that there is enough scientific evidence to show that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumptions will reduce prevalence of obesity and its related diseases (Harvard School of Public Health). If there is a conscious effort to decrease how much people drink sugary beverages, such health risks will be assuaged and facilitate the population’s trek up the health …show more content…
First developed in the 1950s, it was first used to explain the lack of people going to free tuberculosis health screenings but has been used since to explore a variety of short and long-term health behaviors (University of Twente, n.d.). The Health Belief Model is made up of six concepts: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Taken together, they allow health educators to explain and predict a variety of health behaviors (University of Twente, n.d.). First, perceived susceptibility is one’s vulnerability to getting a health conditions. For instance, perceived susceptibility could be the perception of one’s risk of developing the diseases linked to overconsumption of sugary soft drinks like obesity and cardiovascular disease. Severity considers how serious people think these diseases are and how much their lives will be affected. For example, looking at the statistics on obesity, heart disease, shorter lifespans, and lowered quality of life and its relationship to soft drinks may instill a sense of severity to its consumption. Moving on, perceived benefits is the belief that the behavior change will bear positive results (University of Twente, n.d.). In relation to soft drink consumption, it is how much people think that decreasing the amount of soft drinks in their diet will benefit