By Sara Quam
Megan McClure likes pop. She likes the way it tastes and she likes the caffeine.
"It just gets you going for the day.... I need my caffeine," she said.
McClure, 14, is just one of the hundreds of Luverne students who purchase soda from vending machines on campus. If she didn't get it at school, she said, she'd buy her pop elsewhere.
The Minnesota Dental Association and some state legislators want to stop students from excessive soft drink consumption by ending sales on school grounds during school hours.
The Senate bill was introduced a week ago, meeting opposition from the soft-drink lobby and from the Minnesota School Boards Association, which said many schools need the revenue for student organizations and activities.
McClure said she averages four pops a day, and if students like her have to buy those outside of school, it would mean a loss for the school budget.
Soda sales generated about $8,000 for Luverne schools last year, impacting the student activities budget. The funds are collected in the Student Council budget and funneled to other school groups. Yearbook costs, for example, are kept down thanks to money from the pop machines.
While pop may help the schools' budgets, it doesn't help the students' teeth.
Luverne dentist Bob Kaczrowski said he's seen the effects of soft drink consumption firsthand. Over the past few years, he said, the rate of cavities due to pop drinking has increased. The phenomenon isn't just for teens - many adults who sip pop throughout the day are noticing increased cavities.
"Sugar pops are worse, but diet are bad, too," Kaczrowski said.
"Those screw-on bottle tops make it worse because people carry them around all day and prolong the exposure to their teeth."
Kaczrowski said natural sugars found in fruit juices aren't as bad for teeth as processed sugars found in most beverages in vending machines.
Once soft drink sugars and acids combine in the mouth, the damage starts. Simply rinsing or drinking water doesn't stop the nasty combination from working overtime either. Kaczrowski said brushing and flossing is the only sure way to remove the harmful substances from mouths.
A culture of caffeine and availability of sodas may be at the root of over-consumption. Luverne's school grounds have four pop and one juice machines (counting one pop in teachers' lounge) and are open throughout the day.
Kaczrowski said he sees the cavity rates increase by the middle school years and theorizes that those students have more breaks that allow them time to drink.
But that doesn’t mean younger children aren't starting to form pop-drinking habits. The Minnesota Dental Association says that one-fifth of all 1- and 2-year-old children drink pop.
Other factors in soft-drink habits come from the drink industry itself, which says it’s being unfairly singled out in the fight against cavities. Bottles of pop in the 1950s and '60s were 6.5 ounces, compared to today's commonly drunk 20-ounce bottle.
Another concern is that by drinking pop, it often means children aren't drinking milk, water or other healthy beverages.
More than just teeth
A recent study says that an extra soft drink a day gives a child a 60-percent more chance of becoming obese.
The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, says that the increased obesity rates of children in the study are independent of their food and exercise.
Basically, the extra calories in soft drinks aren't being compensated for by cutbacks in other parts of the diet. It wouldn't be out of line to estimate that soft drinks can supply an extra 15 to 20 teaspoons of sugar a day.
In the United States, obesity among children has increased by 100 percent between 1980 and 1994, although some experts disagree on what defines obesity. One estimate is that 24 percent of American children are obese.
Obesity in childhood has been connected to diabetes, heart disease, cancer and arthritis.
Sugar and acid combine for double trouble
Acid (low=bad) Sugar
Water 7.0 (neutral) 0
Barq’s 4.61 10.7tsp
Diet Barq’s 4.55 0
Diet 7UP 3.67 0
Sprite 3.67 0
Diet Coke 3.39 0
Diet Mt.Dew 3.34 0
Grape Min. Maid 3.29 11.9 tsp
Mt. Dew 3.22 11 tsp
Fresca 3.2 0
Orange Slice 3.12 11.9 tsp
Diet Pepsi 3.05 0
Nestea 3.04 5 tsp
Surge 3.02 10 tsp
Gatorade 2.95 3.3 tsp
Dr. Pepper 2.92 9.5 tsp
Squirt 2.82 9.5 tsp
Hawaiian Punch 2.82 10.2 tsp
Orange Min.Maid 2.8 11.2 tsp
Coke 2.53 9.3 tsp
Pepsi 2.49 9.8 tsp
Battery acid 1 0
How cavities are formed
oSugar in pop combines with bacteria in the mouth to form acid.
oDiet or "sugar free" pop contains its own acid.
oAcid attacks teeth. Each acid attack lasts about 20 minutes.
oThe acid attack starts over again with every sip.
oOngoing acid attacks weaken your tooth enamel.
oBacteria in the mouth cause cavities when tooth enamel is damaged.