In some parts of the city, Coke isn’t it.
Residents of the health- and fashion-conscious neighborhoods of Chelsea and Greenwich Village are the least likely in the city to gulp down a sugar-loaded beverage, according to figures provided yesterday by the Health Department.
Just 11.2 percent of those living in the two upscale areas reported drinking at least one sweetened beverage a day. Far behind in second place were the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, where 18.4 percent of adults popped a soda a day.
Tipping the scales in the other direction were folks living in some of the poorest districts.
In the Flatbush and East Flatbush sections of Brooklyn, nearly half the population — 45.7 percent — satisfied their thirsts by downing a sugar-laden soda each day. The same held true in the South Bronx, where 45.5 percent of residents were daily soda drinkers.
“That number is shockingly high to me — it’s disturbing,” City Councilman Jumaane Williams said of the two Brooklyn neighborhoods he represents.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley pointed to the figures as further evidence that the US Department of Agriculture goofed when it blocked the city from launching a two-year experiment that would have banned food-stamp purchases of sugary drinks.
“If you overlay a map of sugary-drink consumption and obesity, they coincide an awful lot,” said Farley. “I’m really disappointed by the USDA’s decision here.”
One can of sweetened soda can add 150 calories.
Farley said that if the city’s 1.7 million food stamp recipients couldn’t buy those sodas with their subsidies, stores in poor areas would shift their beverage stocks to accommodate the market, and everyone in those areas would benefit by the healthier options.
Farley questioned whether the USDA has an inherent conflict when it comes to food stamps, since it’s supposed promote both agriculture and healthy eating practices.
“The Department of Agriculture has as a central part of its mission to promote farmers and the entire food industry. The interest of corn growers and sugar producers is to have price supports for corn and sugar.”
Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (D-Bronx), who represents the Riverdale section of The Bronx, called the Bloomberg administration’s food-stamp proposal a logical step to try to break the city’s soda habit.
“I don’t always agree with Mayor Bloomberg,” he said. “On this issue, I think he was right and the federal government wrong. I don’t see how there’s a downside to it. Soda is not only not nutritional, it’s harmful.”
Records show that 31.6 percent of Dinowitz’s constituents in Riverdale and Kingsbridge down at least one soda a day.
The citywide average is 32 percent, down 12 percent between 2007 and 2009.