By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. July 7, 2017: Caribbean nationals are sucking down sugary drinks and sodas and that obsession is likely leading to a rise in premature deaths across the region.
Dr Alafia Samuels of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), said Thursday that a rise in the prevalence of deaths from heart disease and diabetes, especially in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, can be linked to bad diets, fueled by aggressive marketing of fast food in the region.
Dr. Samuels said the fast food phenomenon has transformed the Caribbean region’s eating habits over the last decade, noting: “Our grandparents grew their food. Our parents went to the market. We go to the supermarket and our children go to the fast food outlet.”
On a country level, nowhere do people like sugary drinks more than those in Trinidad and Tobago, where people drink 2.5 servings (or 20 ounces per day) on average.
The only other places where people drink more than 16 ounces per day or the equivalent of a bottle of soda – is in Barbados, Suriname, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Dominican Republic and Grenada, recent data shows.
Dr Samuels pointed out that is among the highest rate of consumption of carbonated soda or soft drinks in the world.
