Coke vs Diet Coke

Diet soda. We love it or hate it. But there's no doubt that consumption is on the rise. More Americans than ever are drinking diet colas, along with other zero- and low-calorie alternatives.

While diet drink consumption is up across the entire population — about 1 in 5 of us consume them — it's higher-income, middle-aged women who are most likely to be sipping diet drinks, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

As this increase happens, there's also evidence that Americans are drinking less sugar-sweetened soda. So the big question is, will swapping Coke for Diet Coke make any difference for people trying to manage their weight? Two recent studies suggest it just might.

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Overweight adolescents who received home deliveries of water and zero-calorie drinks for one year did significantly better at limiting weight gain compared to a similar group of teens who continued drinking sugary beverages, according to a study by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital. (For more on the study, click on the audio button above to hear the radio piece.)

How much better? "We found there was a difference of just over four pounds," says Cara Ebbeling of Harvard Medical School.

It may not sound terribly impressive — four pounds in a year. But these teens were counseled to change just one thing: their drinks. It's the best evidence yet that swapping sugary drinks for zero-calorie options may influence weight significantly.

Yet there have been some concerns that diet soda might increase our appetites and prompt us to eat more. Well, a recent study suggests this is not the case, at least in the short term.

Danish researcher Bjorn Richelsen of Aarhus University Hospital compared what happened when volunteers drank Diet Coke, water, milk and sugar-sweetened Coke.

"Our conclusion was quite clear," says Richelsen. Sugary coke led people to be slightly hungrier and to eat more. But Diet Coke had a more neutral effect on appetite. Volunteers did not increase their caloric intake in the four hours after drinking Diet Coke.

"We found if you're drinking soft drinks without calories it behaves [on the appetite] exactly like drinking water," Richelsen tells me.

Now, longer-term studies are needed to see if this neutral effect holds up, but it's redeeming for those who feel diet drinks are a helpful strategy.

None of the researchers I interviewed for this story recommend we run out and buy diet drinks, however. They all agree water is best.

"We're still learning a lot about diet soda," says Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco.

He's been pushing for Americans to make drastic cuts in sugar consumption. And he says since liquid calories — in the form of soda, juices and sports drinks — account for about one-third of the sugar we consume, he suggests cutting them out is a good start: They are the low-hanging fruit.

"If you got rid of 33 percent [of calories by eliminating sugary drinks,] you'd be knocking our added-sugar consumption down from from 450 calories a day to 300 calories per day [on average]," says Lustig.

Not an insignificant reduction. He says if diet soda is the baby step to wean people from sugar, maybe that's not a bad thing.

"I liken diet soda to methadone," he says — the drug used to wean people off heroin. Not ideal, but perhaps effective.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/10/22/163260960/swapping-out-sugary-soda-for-diet-drinks-may-help-tip-the-scale-in-your-favor?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121022

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The Deer are Winning

Here are some curious facts. One: more white-tailed deer live in the United States today than at any other time in history. Two: fewer hunters are going after them than did even 20 years ago. And yet, three: deer hunting now rivals military combat in its technological sophistication. Outfitters’ shelves are crammed with advanced electronics, weaponry, chemicals, and camouflage, all designed to eliminate every last shred of chance from the pursuit. The average American hunter now spends nearly $2,500 a year on the sport, despite the fact that finding a deer to kill has literally never been easier.

Killing a deer 100 years ago would have been quite difficult. Across much of the whitetail’s natural range—more or less everything east of the Rockies—intensive small-scale farming had eliminated huge swaths of habitat. Deer were so scarce that some communities imported them to keep hunting a viable pursuit. But as America industrialized, millions of farms disappeared and were replaced by a patchwork of leafy suburbs and secondary-growth forests.

This new landscape was ideal whitetail habitat. Deer rebounded and, as anyone living in a leafy neighborhood knows, are now an epidemic. Fairfax County, Virginia, reports a population density of up to 100 deer per square mile. As many as 30 million of them roam the country at large. Across their range, deer trample gardens, host disease-carrying ticks, and further damage the already stressed ecosystems in which they swarm. Stripping forest understory of nearly everything green, whitetail herds destroy habitat vital to songbirds and other creatures. Earlier this year, The New York Times ran an op-ed titled “Why Bambi Must Go.” Hordes of deer, the author explained, are endangering warblers.

Hunters, on the other hand, are scarcer than they once were. After decades of decline, fewer than 14 million Americans are active hunters today. In 1991, about 1 in 13 adults hunted; today, just 1 in 18 do. Hunters are also getting older: their average age is about 46 and keeps inching up. Like the deer, they have spread far beyond their traditional habitat. More than half of hunting-license holders now live in suburbs and cities, where they face a new challenge: gaining access to hunting land. As Lindsay Thomas Jr., the director of communications at the Quality Deer Management Association, put it, “The average non-hunting citizen does not think of deer hunting as being an activity that is compatible with their subdivision.” Outside of town, the disappearance of small farms has meant the loss of traditional hunting spots; it’s hard to ask Archer Daniels Midland for permission to stalk the back pasture. Moreover, many paper and lumber companies are selling off their woodlands for residential and commercial development. That leaves fewer acres of these vast, semi-wild tracts available for hunters to lease during deer season. Now they must buy a piece of land or move on. The deer stay.

But these difficulties notwithstanding, the actual business of hunting is booming, and it is increasingly dominated by a few big chain stores. One of the largest of the mega-outfitters, Cabela’s, saw its annual sales grow from $500 million in the late 1990s to $2.8 billion today. It also established the now-standard practice of building elaborate “destination stores” to draw customers. Walking into a Cabela’s, you are greeted by classic hunting-lodge decor (wood beams, stone fireplaces), aerial displays (some stuffed geese on the wing, or maybe a bush plane), and the signature attraction, an artificial mountain bedecked with taxidermied big-game animals.

You also find that advanced hunting arsenal. The chemical-weapons aisle alone boasts such products as Dead Down Wind ScentPrevent e3 Field Spray (“Prevents human odors from forming”), Team Fitzgerald Deer Dander Attractant (“Makes you smell like the deer you pursue”), and Wildlife Research Center Special Golden Estrus—that’s bottled urine, “taken right from does brought into heat early through the use of hormones and lighting conditions.” Autonomous, infrared-triggered trail cameras such as the Reconyx Hyperfire HC500 help with surveillance. Target-acquisition systems include the Leupold RX‑1000i TBR Compact Digital Laser Rangefinder With DNA, and ATN Aries MK‑410 Spartan Nightvision Riflescope, which promises “resolution beyond current military standards.”

All this at a time when old-fashioned car bumpers bag 1.5 million deer each year. Tom Gallagher, Cabela’s purchasing director, understands the game that’s being played. “It’s no different than the club that’ll drive the ball the longest, the bat that’ll hit the ball the longest, the weight-loss drug that’ll lose you the most weight,” he told me. “Americans love anything that’ll give them an opportunity.”

We also love a sure thing. Hunters took down more than 6 million whitetails in 2011. An old military joke comes to mind: the enemy is all around us—this time he shall not get away.

Tim Heffernan writes about heavy industry and the natural world. He lives in New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=sherifink

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University of Iowa Rises to Party School Standards

            University of Iowa students had something to celebrate when the Princeton Review’s top 20 party schools list was announced and the University of Iowa became the number two party school. University officials, however, had a different reaction to this announcement.

            While the Princeton Review has no real authority over the schools it rates, it had become popular with the students and something that people have come to look forward to each year. “It doesn’t mean anything to me but I love to see how high we have gotten on the list,” said Lizzy Metcalf, University of Iowa senior. “I take pride in seeing my school get achievements, especially if it’s for partying. It says we are fun.”

            The Princeton Review surveys college students and uses their answers to determine how the college ranks next to others. Each college is given a score, similar to a GPA, for their student answers to each multiple-choice question. Those scores enable them to compare the students’ opinion from college to college. Those are the sole factors that determine which schools make it into their list.

            There is no input from collegiate administrators or professors to these assessments, only the student body perspective of each school. This obviously means that the opinions don’t reflect the views of the entire student body. Around 122,000 students at 377 of the top colleges were surveyed for this year’s reviews.

            Molly Golemo, staff member in Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL), was extremely disappointed in this standing. Molly advises student organizational groups on campus such as CAB whose mission is to provide quality entertainment on campus as an alternative to high-risk behavior. “As our standing moves higher up on the list of “party schools” according to the Princeton Review, it makes it seem as if I’m not doing my duty on this campus,” said Golemo. “I’m not sure if it is because I’m not offering good alternatives or I’m not offering enough alternatives, because students at this University are still frequently visiting the bars more than our events in the past year.”

            So what is the university doing to draw its students away from the downtown bars and drinking parties?

            The University of Iowa has over 500 student organizations and businesses with many of them dedicated to fixing the university’s party problem such as CAB, the Englert Theater, Scope, and Late Night at Iowa. However, having these organizations but not backing them with sufficient funds is no solution at all.

            Three years ago, when the Iowa City downtown district began its fight with the 21-Ordinace, the university granted these organizations and many more much more money than they were used to in hopes that they could help steer students away from the bars. Once the 21-Ordinace took effect, however, the university slowly abandoned this plan and not only took away the extra funds but about twenty percent of the funds that were originally in place.

Campus Activities Board (CAB)

            CAB is an organization dedicated to bringing sober events to campus. They bring comedy, music, movies, and late night events to campus and almost always for free. A new extension to their group has been there roads committee, which takes students off campus to different destinations like sports games and concerts for a low-ticket price.

            CAB president, Corinne Farrel, said, “We are working hard to put on events every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night but you have to wonder if we should be focusing on quality over quantity with our few funds.” Right after the 21-Ordinance went into play CAB and several other organizations were provided a raise in their budgets to help draw the students’ attention away from the bars. “Now that the 21-Ordinance is “old news” we are getting these much needed funds taken away and in fact losing the budgets we once had,” said Farrel.

            CAB’s small comedian shows, on average, bring in 20 – 60 people whereas there “Big Comedy” shows bring in 500 when they have a maximum space of 1,100 seats. This doesn’t look good when booking an artist can cost as much as $20,000. These statistics are what the university looks at when distributing yearly budgets.

           

The Englert Theatre

            The Englert Theatre, located in downtown Iowa City, is a community arts center and performance space. The Englert is famous for its old time feel on its exterior and interior. It has been a part of the Iowa City tradition since 1912. They bring various events such as movies, comedians, musicians, and magicians to the downtown community.

            “We like to work with student organizations that can help promote us to students and gets our space used regularly,” said Sarah Kosch, front of house services manager for the Englert Theatre. The Englert Theatre staff collaborates with CAB on a Midnight Movie Series that shows a movie at 11:59pm on Saturday nights once a month. There is usually a solid attendance of 50 people at each showing.

            The Englert’s shows are almost always sold out even though they are not free. “We have a great following of community members that are loyal to us and our events,” said Kosch.

Associated Resident Hall Association (ARH)

            Another organization on campus dedicated to bringing sober events to campus is the Associated Residence Hall Association (ARH). This student-run organization is dedicated solely to the University of Iowa resident halls and their residents.

            “Student feedback is essential to our organization,” said Sean Ryan, ARH executive director. “We only want to offer things that the students want to do otherwise it is a waste of time.” The feedback, however, is hard to get out of people when they don’t know what they want until its right in front of them. “We never get suggestions for new events because the students that come already like what we are putting out, they don’t need anything else.”

Scope

            Scope is a student-run organization at the University of Iowa that brings quality concerts and entertainment to campus and the surrounding community. Scope is easily one of the biggest and best, in terms of attendance, student organizations that they university has at this time. “Nearly all of our shows sell out with minimal marketing, we bring things that we, and students like us, would want to see,” said Zoey Miller, Scope’s marketing director.

            Scope has recently begun booking venues in the downtown Iowa City area and even the Iowa City bars as places to hold their shows. The Mill has hosted many of Scope’s smaller shows. How do they get away this you ask? Places like The Mill have a backrooms and side areas that allow the bar to “close down” their alcohol selection and only have underage beverages served.

            A question that hangs over all of these organization’s heads is, “How do we get people to come to our events?”

            “We market like crazy every week by putting out posters, our various social media sites, our website, and other street team ideas but nothing seems to change,” says Kevin Deluca, CAB’s marketing director. He thinks it may have come to the point where so many different organizations are marketing in so many different ways, the students are just seeing it as white fuzz.

            One of the biggest helps to the Iowa City 21-Ordinance is the addition of new businesses in the downtown pedestrian mall. Frozen Yogurt has begun its takeover with not one, not two, but three shops all within two blocks of each other. By being open-late, these stores are easily the most popular stops, next to the bars, in the downtown area. More boutiques are also either entering the area and the old ones have taken to revamping their look. Lorenz 2.0, local Iowa City business, has been in the area for years but to keep up with the times they have remodeled their store and created a new look for their window display.

            Brett Bilina, Univesity of Iowa sophomore, sees it differently. “The 21-Ordinace limits my activities,” said Bilina. Although there are plenty of events happening on campus every weekend, Bilina doesn’t go to them because he doesn’t think they apply to him. “Many events just don’t work with my taste, they are things I would never see myself at, so I don’t go.” To get Bilina to go to events, they must be “new”. By new he means relevant topics. “The bars are actually quite good at bringing in good artists, especially Blue Moose, which ironically is hard for me go to because of the damn ordinance.”

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