Water First For Thirst Campaign

Promote Water First For Thirst!

Water First for Thirst is more than just a message, it is a movement to make water the easy, appealing, first choice for children and families.

WHY WATER FIRST FOR THIRST?

• Americans consume almost 50 gallons of sugary drinks a year – that equals 38 pounds of sugar!
• More than 38% of toddlers (age 21-24 months) consumed sugary sweetened beverages at least one time a day in the U.S.
• Every serving of sugary drinks a child consumes increases his or her chances of becoming overweight or obese by about 60%.
• For adults, consuming 1 or more sugary drinks each day increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by about 25%.
• In 2009-2010, about 40% of Ohio’s 3rd graders were consuming 2 or more sugary drinks a day.
• Soft drinks are the food most strongly linked to increased rates of obesity and risk for diabetes.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Change What You Serve

• Serve water at events and meetings. Make it visible and easy to reach.
• Make water freely available to your employees and customers and promote it!
• Require at least half of beverage vending slots to be filled with water and make water cheaper than other beverages. Download  sample vending contract language.
• Place water in the most visible location including the most visible vending slots.
• Limit the portion sizes of sugary drinks that can be sold in your facility.

Commit to Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice

• Establish written policies to ensure that your Water First for Thirst efforts will be long lasting. 
• More examples of policy, system, and environmental changes to promote water first for thirst.
• Take the Water First for Thirst pledge (English, Somali, Spanish). 
• Water First for Thirst PowerPoint Presentation
  

Water First for Thirst Tools

References:

1. Ogden et all, Consumption of Sugar Drinks on the United States 2005-2008.
2. SIEGA-RIZ AM; DEMING DM;  REIDY KC; FOX MK; CONDON E; BRIEFEL RR. Food and Consumption Patterns of Infants and Toddlers: Where are we now? J AM Diet Assoc. 2010;110:S38-S51.
3. Ludwig DS, Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis. Lancet 2001; 357: 505-08.
4. Malik VS, et al. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2010; 33:2477–2483.
5. Ohio Department of Health, A Report on the Body Mass Index of Ohio’s Third Graders 2004–2010.
6. Vartanian LR, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD. Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health. 2007 Apr;97(4):667-75. Epub 2007 Feb 28.