WASHINGTON — Drink your heart out, Mayor Bloomberg.
First Lady Michelle Obama beat the nanny-state poster child to the punch with a new campaign to get Americans to drink more water.
Obama is staging an event Thursday, called “Drink up,” in Watertown, Wis., in an effort to turn the source of all life as we know it into America’s favorite beverage.
It’s an effort to keep Americans hydrated and perhaps stay off less healthful alternatives (studies show 40 percent of people don’t drink as much H20 as they should). The feds recommend eight glasses per day.
“Drinking more water is a simple, easy choice that most people can make every day,” said actress Eva Langoria, a White House favorite who is lending her star appeal to the campaign.
Joined by the Partnership for a Healthier America, Obama’s effort is also getting endorsements from a group of corporate bottled water companies like Deer Park and Dasani which are participating.
The drink up logo is getting plastered on an estimated 300 million packs of bottled water, according to the White House (a reminder that the water guzzling campaign could have an impact on the nation’s landfills).
Brita and several cities are also on board pushing tap water.
“Drink just one more glass of water a day and you can make a real difference for your health, your energy and the way you feel. So ‘drink up’ and see for yourself.”
The campaign is mostly ducking the issue of sugary drinks.
Some health experts aren’t sounding like they’re ready to drink the Kool-Aid of the agua effort.
“There really isn’t data to support this,” University of Pennsylvania Prof. Dr.
Stanley Goldfarb told Politico.
“I think, unfortunately, frankly, they’re not basing this on really hard science. It’s not a very scientific approach they’ve taken. … To make it a major public health effort, I think I would say it’s bizarre.”