What do you drink? The future wants to know. When Berkeley, California passed a Bloombergian tax on sodas, sales dropped 21 percent. And the trick has been repeated even in such unlikely places as Philadelphia. Sugar has become a soft drink business liability, yes, but the soft drink business is booming anyway. Bloomberg has a new article examing the “$8 Billion Thirst War.” Some of the amazing things about the battle? Setting aside alcoholic beverages, Beverage Marketing Corporation reports 48 percent of beverages sold in America make the “zero calories” claim. (It helps if you realize, of course, how much of that is just bottled water.)
People are doing more all the time to be fit and eat right (except for the millions who aren’t) and Bloomberg says the fitness industry was a $28 billion boon last year. Not all drinkers of Gatorade and its challengers are fitness nuts, however, just as you can see some very unfit folks stretching out their Under Armour “athletic” gear at the supermarket. But hydration appeals to the fit and nonfit alike. For the former hydration is an essential part of a regimen that includes diet and exercise. For the nonfit, hydration is often thought of as a substitute for exercise — or at least an aid to digestion and a path to better skin. The Bloomberg piece goes deep about what your body needs and doesn’t, and what drinks have it and don’t.
