A special issue of the journal Childhood Obesity was released to celebrate the second anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” anti-obesity campaign with contributions from the First Lady, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, NFL quarterback Drew Brees and other health professionals. In the foreword, Mrs. Obama stated that in the past two years, with the hard work of dedicated individuals and leaders from every sector, “we have begun to change the conversation about childhood obesity in America.”

Our industry also is dedicated to tackling the issue of childhood obesity. In support of the First lady’s campaign, our industry voluntarily placed calorie information on the front of every bottle, can and pack we produce. And America’s beverage industry also offers a variety of choices, smaller portions and more no- and low-calorie beverages.  With our national School Beverage Guidelines, we removed full-calorie soft drinks from schools and replaced them with more lower-calorie, smaller portion options.  As a result, we cut total beverage calories shipped to schools by 88 percent since 2004.

Now that’s what we call progress!  And, like the First Lady, we agree that it will take all of us working together to reverse the childhood obesity trend.