Blame Game: drink companies say videogames make you fat

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom recently proposed that larger stores should be charged a fee for selling soft drinks that contain high-fructose corn syrup. This was proposed in attempts to trim the figures of his city’s residents, and the money raised would go to anti-obesity programs.

We’ll agree that non-diet soda is a devil to a gamer’s waist line, but hitting stores with surcharges isn’t gong to help anything, and soda addicts will continue to drink them. 

Of course, the American Beverage Association likes the idea even less:

“It makes no sense to single out any one single cause of obesity, which is a complex problem.,” said Kevin Keane, a senior vice president. He goes on to say that the mayor should aim his ire at computer and video game companies, as they lure gamers inside when they should “be outside burning calories.”

We know it’s not that simple. Sure, soda can pack on pounds, and day long bouts of Halo 3 don’t allow for much fitness time, but we know plenty of slim and trim soda guzzling gamers.

One thing’s for sure: being a videogames journalist makes it very easy to get fat.

[Via and thanks to Official Xbox Magazine

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Dale North
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