09/30/2007

Associated Press

School districts are finding that it's not so easy to banish sugary soft drinks from students' favorite vending machines.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that districts around the state are adopting non-mandatory state guidelines that impose limits on selling full-calorie soda sales. But that doesn't mean sugary drinks have been banished from lockers and school hallways.

Many high schools still sell "enhanced" waters and sports drinks, many of which are high in sugar and sodium. The beverage industry acknowledges that two-thirds of beverages sold in schools are still sugary.

"It's not just soda," said Margo Wootan, nutritional director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based nutrition advocacy group that threatened to sue the beverage industry, forcing it into last year's agreement. "It's sports drinks, juices, enhanced waters that need to be left out."

And while health advocates are calling for even more cutbacks in soda sales, students' demand is still high for the drinks.

Students in the cafeteria at Belleville West High School lined up at the "S-Cool Energy Mart," a concession stand that sells chips, candy bars and — most importantly to many students — soda.

"Soda's pretty much the key ingredient to school," said senior Brett Erbacher, walking away from the stand with friends on Tuesday.

And if the school stopped selling the stuff? "I'd throw a tantrum," he said.

Federal rules prohibit soda sales during lunch hours in the cafeteria of any school that participates in the federal school lunch program. But that law doesn't apply to vending machines elsewhere in a school.

Still, more soda restrictions are in the pipeline.

Last year, the nation's three major soft drink manufacturers agreed to stop selling full-calorie sodas to schools by the 2009-2010 school year. In the meantime, many schools still sell full-calorie drinks under current contracts with distributors.

Districts that have already cut full-calorie drinks have seen drops in vending sales, some more than 50 percent, school officials say. In the Fort Zumwalt School District, for example, vending machine profits dropped to $83,000 last year from $196,000 in the 2003-2004 school year.

"We're not in it to make money," said Mike Clemens, assistant superintendent for the district. "We'd rather have the kids have something healthy."

Still, Clemens said, the loss hurts. The district now has to use other money to pay for after-school activities and clubs.

Wootan's group, the nation's largest nutrition coalition, is working with the industry to develop new nutrition standards. But sports drinks — the fastest growing segment of beverage sales to teenagers — have become a sticking point. The group is trying to get the beverage industry to agree to sell them only to highly active athletes.

"Basically sports drinks are sugar water with salt," Wootan said. "They're not evil, but they have a purpose."

Health advocates say state rule changes and the industry agreement are steps in the right direction. They point out that kids can still bring soda to school or, if they're on open campuses, simply walk across a street and buy one.

"Schools are a great place to start, but this has to be everywhere," said Karen Wooton, director for food services with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "It's going to take a community effort, just like smoking."

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com