美国含糖饮料消费下降

 Pop, soda, fizz or a soft drink -- call it what you like -- people are drinking less of it. Especially in the U.S. where soda sales have been declining for ten consecutive years. The drop in soda consumption has been the single largest change in the American diet in a decade and things don't look like they'll be turning around anytime soon.

Health advocates have campaigned hard against big soda companies like Coca Cola and PepsiCo-accusing their sugary beverages of causing a spike in obesity and diabetes.

While the shift away from soda consumption has been gradual, tastes have been changing.

"You're not seeing any big sharp decreases in soda consumption in the U.S. and anywhere near. But it's happening for 10 years now. Last year was the tenth consecutive year that you saw a decline in soda in the U.S," said Candice Choi, food and beverage reporter.

Sales have slipped in Europe, too. After Mexico imposed a soda tax in 2014, one study showed a progressive decline in sales, slumping by 12 percent by the end of the year.

Over the last 20 years, sales of regular soda in the U.S. have dropped by more than 25%. The decline has forced the big beverage companies to expand their product lines to include teas and bottled water, but also deploy aggressive marketing tactics.

"Both Coca Cola and PepsiCo, 'big soda,' have pledged that they will spend roughly $5 billion each, in each of major areas in the world-Africa, Asia, Latin America. So they're putting billion and billions of dollars into marketing in developing countries and these countries are having to deal with this influx of soda marketing. With obesity and Type 2 diabetes certain to follow," said Marion Nestle, NYU Professor.

Pushing products into developing economies is one strategy. Making existing products appear as premium is another.

"..,What you're seeing is Coke and Pepsi focus on 'premiumization'. So you see smaller cans, glass bottles, packaging that people say 'Hey! I'll pay a little more for that, that looks cooler or that looks pretty.' So they might not be much, but the companies are telling investors these smaller sizes fetch more per ounce so we could push up sales even if we're not pushing up volume," Choi said.

The more that health advocates and politicians try to curb soda consumption, the harder the companies push. Experts say many of the tactics used by the soda companies are similar to ones used by big tobacco firms.

"First of all, you attack the science and the soda companies have been funding research to undermine the enormous body of research that links soda to obesity. So they attack the research, the researchers, the critics. They lobby. They fund community organizations to silence critics, a lot of that has been exposed to everyone's great astonishment. I think many people didn't realize the close parallel between the marketing practices of sugar-sweetened beverages and cigarettes, but they're there," Professor Nestle said.

For many health advocates, soda has become the new tobacco. A product they hope to tax, ban and stigmatize. And while soda isn't about to disappear from supermarket shelves, soda sales are certainly losing their fizz.