The Chicago City Council Committee on Health & Environmental Protection held a hearing on the impact of sugar sweetened beverage tax on Obesity. Here are the slides used by the Chicago Department of Public Health. The full testimony is posted online at www.cityofchicago.org/health

1. Chicago Department of Public Health
Obesity and Sugar Sweetened
Beverages
Presented to the Chicago City Council Health and
Environmental Protection Committee
Bechara Choucair, M.D.
@ ChiPublicHealth on
Rahm Emanuel Bechara Choucair, MD
Mayor
May 1, 2012 Commissioner

2. Healthy Chicago
Goal: Prevent and control overweight, obesity and
related chronic disease
 Reduce adult and childhood obesity by 10%.
 Decrease the proportion of youth and adults
consuming less than five servings of fruits and
vegetables per day by 10%.
 Reduce the number of Chicagoans living in food
deserts to 200,000 by 2015 and to zero by 2020.

3. Selected Actions to Address Obesity
• Improved park space
• Play streets
• Walkability and biking efforts
• Child care standards
• Grocery store expansion
• Healthy vending

4. Marketing
• $948 million annually
• Regular soda – 46%
• Energy drinks - 17%
• Sports drinks – 15%
• Fruit drinks – 14%
• Flavored water – 4%
• Iced tea – 4%
• $500 million aimed at children

5. Portion Sizes
Da
Da
Da

6. Pricing

7. Sugar Content in Sodas
• 12-oz soda: 9–12 tsps
• 20-oz soda: 15-20 tsps
• 64-oz soda: 54-63 tsps
• Bottled Ice Tea: 14 tsps
• Energy drink – 16 tsps

8. The average American consumes 45 gallons
of sugary drinks – or 42 pounds of sugar –
each year
45 Gallon

9. How Sugary Drinks Impact Health
Malik, Popkin, Bray, Després, Hu. 2010. Circulation 2010

10. Chicago Obesity Facts
• Children are obese at rates more than twice the
national average
• Obesity among high school students increased by
20% between 1999 and 2009
• 67% of Chicago adults are either overweight or
obese

11. Obesity Disparities
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Chicago Humboldt Park West Town South Lawndale North Lawndale Roseland Norwood Park
(36% Black, (47% Black, (47% Hispanic, (83% Hispanic) (94% Black) (98% Black) (88% White)
26% Hispanic, 48% Hispanic) 39% White)
21% White) Blue = overweight
Purple = obese
Source: Improving Community Health Survey, Report I., Sinai Urban Health
Institute: Chicago, IL. http://www.suhichicago.org/files/publications/P.pdf

12. Diabetes in Cook County
375,000
300,000
225,000
150,000
75,000
0
2004 2005 2007 2009
CDC http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DDT_STRS2/CountyPrevalenceData.aspx?StateId=17&mode=DBT

13. Other Health Consequences of Obesity
• Coronary heart disease
• Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high
levels of triglycerides)
• Stroke
• Liver and Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its
underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)

14. Annual Economic Impacts of Obesity
• Nationally, $147 billion spent on related health
costs
• Private employers lose ~$45 billion to medical
costs and work loss
• $3.4 billion in added health care costs in Illinois

15. Prevention Strategies
• Public awareness
• Points of access
• Pricing

16. HEALTHY CHICAGO
Chicago Department of Public Health
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
IT’S ABOUT HOW WE
BEHAVE AS A CITY

17. www.Cityofchicago.org/Health
HealthyChicago@cityofchicago.org
Facebook.com/ChicagoPublicHealth
@ChiPublicHealth
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(312) 747-9884