Thursday, April 28, 2016

Rethink Your Drink . . . Choose Water

JCPH is working promote drinking water as a healthy alternative to sugary drinks and the answer to dehydration.  The Jeffco Healthy Beverage Coalition exists to increase awareness of and access to healthy beverages for all Jefferson County families.  The Coalition is part of the Jeffco Community Health Improvement Network  as well as the Metro Healthy Beverage Partnership, a partnership to increase healthy beverages across seven counties in Denver metro.

A soda or sweet tea might seem harmless, but we now know that drinking just one sugary drink per day adds an extra 39lbs of sugar in a person’s diet each year. By drinking one sugary drink a day, an adult or child has 25% increased risk of type 2 diabetes, 33% higher risk of dying from heart disease, and 55% risk of being overweight, as well as tooth decay problems that really impact kids. In Jefferson County, as cited in our CHIP, 28% of adults and 19.1% of children are drinking one or more sugary drinks a day. 

Helping to Make Water the Easy Beverage Choice!


According to a 2015 nationwide study published in the American Journal of Public Health, more than half of American children are dehydrated at aby given time.  Dehydration can negatively impact both health and academic performance.  The School Wellness Coalition, also part of the Network, is providing a tool that helps schools assess if they have enough water fountains and water bottle refill stations available for students. The coalition is also helping schools find funding to install new ones! Parents, teachers, and students can all participate. Find out more by watching this video

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