How far you have to walk to burn off a soda

Walk that soda off

A 590 ml bottle of soda, sports drink or fruit juice that contains 250 calories (the equivalent of 16 teaspoons of sugar) would take 50 minutes of running or an eight kilometre walk to burn off.

Soda signs

When presented with this information, as a sign inside a store, researchers found that soda-loving teens were more likely to leave the store with a lower calorie, healthier or a smaller size beverage.

When compared with purchasing behaviours during times when there was no signage, the most effective sign was the one which told shoppers they would have to walk eight kilometres to burn off the drink calories.

A soda with 250 calories would take 50 minutes of running or an eight kilometre walk to burn off! [/su_pullquote]

"People don't really understand what it means to say a typical soda has 250 calories," explained study lead Sara N. Bleich, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School. "If you're going to give people calorie information, there's probably a better way to do it. What our research found is that when you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking needed to burn them off, you can encourage behaviour change."

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