Soda's charm starting to fizzle
It wasn't too long ago that America had a love affair with soda. Now, an old flame has the country's heart.
As New York City grapples with the legality of a ban on the sale of large cups of soda and other sugary drinks at some businesses, one thing is clear: Soda's run as the nation's beverage of choice has fizzled.
In its place? A favorite for much of history: Plain old water.
For more than two decades, soda was the No 1 drink in the US with per capita consumption peaking in 1998 at 200 liters a year, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest. US residents drank just 159 liters of water a year at the time.
But over the years, as soda increasingly came under fire for fueling the nation's rising obesity rates, water quietly rose to knock it off the top spot.
US citizens now drink an average of 167 liters of soda a year, a 17 percent drop from the peak in 1998. Over the same time, the average amount of water people drink has increased 38 percent to about 220 liters a year. Bottled water has led that growth, with consumption nearly doubling to 80 liters a year.
AP
(China Daily 03/13/2013 page11)
