Health

Water-hungry NYers not sweet on soda

Perhaps the City’s anti-soda and sugary juice campaigns are having an effect.

New Yorkers and their suburban neighbors are favoring bottled water and milk — and buying much less juice and soda, Metro New York City grocery-store sales data for the year ended Nov. 2 reveal.

Whether the result of Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign against large, calorie-rich large sodas or a wider national trend away from sodas to more healthy drinks, bottled water was the only beverage category to show an uptick in volume sold, according to Nielsen’s statistics, which look at the 25 best-selling brands.

Sales of the biggest water brands through grocery stores grew by 1 percent in the year versus the previous 12-month period, to 144.3 million gallons. The stats do not include sales through convenience stores, mass merchandisers and drug chains — although total sales by category generally mimic grocery sales.

Milk sales held pretty steady, falling by just 1.8 percent to 28.6 million gallons, while sales of soda, the No. 2 category at 88.1 million gallons purchased over the last year, dropped 6.8 percent. Juice sales totaled 46.5 million gallons, down 6.1 percent, and sports drinks and teas fell 5 percent, to 44.6 million gallons.

Poland Spring is the metro area’s favorite drink and grew 4.5 percent, to 98 million gallons, the stats show. Nestle’s Pure Life saw sales rise 4.7 percent, to 12.4 million gallons.

The decline in soda sales hit every major brand, with Coke’s assorted brands falling 3 percent and a 14 percent decline for PepsiCo’s line-up. Coke is increasing its market-share lead partially because it is dropping prices, while PepsiCo is slightly raising them.

PepsiCo’s Tropicana is the top juice, with sales steady at about 25.2 million gallons. Coke’s Minute Maid’s sales fall 15 percent, to 8.4 million gallons.