Soda machines to display calorie counts before you buy

ROCKFORD - If you're fighting the battle of the waist bulge, chances are you're drinking and not just eating too many calories.  Now, there's a move to make sure you know how much sugar you're sipping.

Criticism over sugary sodas has been putting the pressure on the beverage industry to do more to inform people about what their buying before they start drinking.

"I know I drink too much pop, far too much pop, that's all I drink," said Rockford resident Jonathon Combs.

But for others, pop is just something to stay away from.

"Periodically, not a lot though, I try to stay away from caffeine," said Rockford resident Jarvis Naylor.

To combat criticism that cola companies don't do enough to inform people about what's in their drinks, the American Beverage Association is rolling out new machines that will increase the availability of lower-calorie drinks and add new labels to the selection buttons to show calorie counts.

"A lot of people don't realize that when their drinking a beverage, that their getting as many calories that they would if they sat down and ate a sandwich," said Bariatrict Coordinator for OSF Saint Anthony medical center Nathan Hamman.

AThe average label on a soda provides nutrition facts for an 8-ounce can, but most sodas don't come in eight ounces.

"It's always 12-ounces, 20-ounces, 24-ounces, 32 like you said with the big gulp, so you might have to multiply everything that you see by two, three, or four times," said Hamman.

And Hamman thinks just seeing the difference between products might make people think twice.

"If you have choices between three different regular sodas, and one's 30 or 40 calories less, you might pick that one because you saw the information before you got it out of the machine," said Hamman.

The whole idea behind the new machines is to help people better manage their weight and be more aware of what their consuming.

"This is just a way for us to have a guide to help us take care of our body a little better," said Naylor.

But whether it actually makes people think twice isn't quite clear.

"I would hope they look at it, but you know I don't know whether they would or not," said Rockford resident Karen Sargent.

Hamman says drinking water is the best choice when you're thirsty, but if you must have pop, choosing diet is much better than drinking regular pop.

The American Beverage Association plans to install the new machines at the beginning of next year.