Childhood obesity and consumption of fizzy drinks

Editor—The study by James et al on preventing childhood obesity by reducing the consumption of carbonated drinks underscores clinical intuition about why children are more obese these days.¹

Wearing my hat of school governor, I have been trying to introduce a healthy eating policy to our local school. It was comparatively easy to change the catering contract to a company that guarantees to use fresh vegetables, low salt, less fat, etc, but it was much more difficult to influence the policy on soft drinks machines. The reason: the machines are a critical source of income for a cash strapped school that has seen its budget squeezed in real terms year on year. Sales from vending machines are now used to pay for books and equipment—and I suspect it won't be long before the school advertises for a “Coca Cola head of chemistry” or a “Fanta French teacher.” Perhaps it's time the BMJ launched a new journal: Sugar Control?