Why Set Beverage Guidelines?

Americans consume far too many calories. And at least a fifth of these calories come from things we drink. The worst things humans can drink include: sugar-sweetened soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, and sugary tea and coffee drinks.

A blue-ribbon panel of six leading U.S. nutrition experts have come up with guidelines for healthy drinking. The panel's chairman is Barry M. Popkin, PhD, professor of nutrition, head of nutrition epidemiology, and director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Everybody -- parents, adults, and teenagers -- have to realize what they drink is adding to their weight," Popkin tells WebMD. "We want people to think about their entire portfolio of beverages and change that to make for a much healthier America."

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"When it comes to calories, think before you drink anything," Fernstrom tells WebMD. She was not a member of the beverage guideline panel.

Popkin agrees the new guidelines are complex. But he argues that they're no more complex than the choices that confront us.

"We are being faced with a billion beverages," he says. "Every year, the food industry adds 1,000 new beverage choices."

As a result of these new beverage choices, people are tempted to try them. This increases the consumption of these sugary drinks. People do not realize how bad these drinks really are for them. Drinks are not normally seen as a health threat but in this case, they are extremely threatening. Americans need to be educated more about what they are consuming everyday. We focus more on the taste than the health facts. In my opinion, this will be America's health downfall.