Think before you drink: excessive alcohol use can lead to health problems such as liver disease, unintentional injuries, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs).

Chart: Adults (aged 18 years and over, United States) Who had Five or More Alcoholic Drinks in 1 Day (at least once in the past year), by Race/Ethnicity (estimates for Race/Ethnicity are adjusted by age and sex), 2010. Hispanic/Latino: 19.8%; White, single race (not Hispanic or Latino): 27.7%; Black or African American, single race (not Hispanic or Latino): 12.6%. Source: National Health Interview Survey. Chart: Adults (aged 18 years and over, United States) Who had Five or More Alcoholic Drinks in 1 Day (at least once in the past year), by Age Group and Sex, 2010. 18-24 years: Male (38.9%), Female (28.4%); 25-44 years: Male (42.9%), Female (20.4%); 45-64 years: Male (26.6%), Female (12.3%); 65 years and over: Male (9.7%), Female (1.4%). Source: National Health Interview Survey.

Many December parties and get-togethers involve alcoholic beverages; often these situations involve more alcohol than people usually drink at other times during the year. For this reason, the CDC.gov Data & Statistics feature is highlighting responses to the following question from the 2010 (January-June) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS): "In the past year, on how many days did you have five or more drinks of any alcoholic beverage?"

Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population.

Overall, 23.0% of adults aged ≥18 years had five or more alcoholic drinks in 1 day at least once in the preceding year. For both men and women, the percentage generally decreased with age. In all four age groups, men were substantially more likely than women to have had five or more drinks in 1 day at least once in the preceding year. The percentage of whites who reported five or more alcoholic drinks in 1 day at least once during the preceding year, at 27.7%, was more than twice the percentage of blacks (12.6%) and significantly higher than Hispanics or Latinos (19.8%)

Excessive alcohol use, either in the form of heavy drinking (drinking more than two drinks per day on average for men or more than one drink per day on average for women), or binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks during a single occasion for men or 4 or more drinks during a single occasion for women), occurs in approximately 15% of the United States population. Moreover, excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for people in the United States each year.

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There are a great number of Beverages & more! locations all around the world, serving their customers. But how can consumers find the best Beverages & more! locations so that they can take advantage of the great services they offer? Our Beverages & more! locators help you to track down the Beverages & more! nearest to your home or place of business, with the information fully integrated into an interactive map.

When you’re ordering the new Starbucks “trenta” you’re not only getting a massive drink (31 ounces) but also a massive amount of calories (up to 600), with the potential to pack on more than 60 extra pounds in one year.

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“An extra 200 calories per day will lead to a weight gain of about 2 pounds per month, or 21 pounds per year, so an extra 600 calories could mean an increase in weight of upwards of 63 pounds in a year,” said Jessica Bartfield, MD, an internal medicine and medical weight-loss specialist at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, part of the Loyola University Health System.

A normal cup of coffee is considered to be 6 to 8 ounces, and studies have suggested that 1 to 2 cups of caffeinated coffee daily can have health benefits. “The new ‘trenta’ will offer 4 to 5 cups of coffee in one serving, and unfortunately the additional caffeine will not ‘burn off’ the excess calories,” Dr. Bartfield said.

“People need to recognize that these drinks are not necessarily innocent ways to quench our thirst, boost our energy or satisfy a sweet tooth,” she said. “Drinks are rather sneaky sources, usually, of empty calories – nutritionally deplete.”

Gottlieb offers a medically supervised weight-loss program involving physicians, nutritionists, exercise physiologists and behavioralists to establish positive lifestyle habits that lead to achieving a healthy weight.

“Increasing sizes of food or beverages potentially distorts our perception of portion size and makes it difficult to respond to our body’s natural cues of being hungry or thirsty or full,” said Courtney Burtscher, clinical psychologist who runs the monthly behavior management group as part of Loyola’s weight-loss program. People will sometimes use external cues to decide when to eat and when to stop. Cues can include the following: when others are eating, when the TV show they are watching goes to commercial or is over and when their portion is gone.”

According to Dr. Burtscher, factors that contribute to how much people eat may include:

generational - “My parents taught me to clean my plate and not waste food.”

relational - “Feelings will be hurt if I don’t finish what they made/gave me.”

economical - “This is such a good deal – more bang for my buck.”

convenience - “I’m in a rush and need it now.”

emotional - “Extreme moods may increase the chances for emotional eating.”

“Massive amounts of food and drink should not be promoted to American consumers when the majority of our population is overweight or obese,” Dr. Bartfield said.

Both doctors believe that taking personal responsibility for our health is important.

“Knowing our own body and our own nutritional needs is an important part of eating healthily and taking care of ourselves,” Dr. Burtscher said. “Self awareness decreases the possibility of using external cues such as price, size or others’ behaviors, and can lead to behavior change and successful eating habits.

This particular issue of Beverage World might have you seeing red (more than usual, anyway), but there’s no need to adjust your set. We’ve decided to dedicate this edition to a certain carbonated icon that just happens to be turning 125 this year (officially, May 8).

Pepsi’s Shiv Singh Talks Social MediaIn this exclusive web-only sidebar to the January 2011 merchandising story on Social Media, Beverage World extends its talk with Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages America, on the pitfalls and successes in social media.

Change is Brewing0111_COVER_STORY4North American Breweries is carving out a niche for itself in the highly competitive US beer market, one positive change at a time.

Lemon-Lime Bubbly Goes Au Naturel0111_sierra-mistSierra Mist gets a makeover that is more fitting for the times. After eight years on the market, Sierra Mist goes natural.

Calorie information to be added to the front of beverage containers, vending machines and fountain equipment, raising awareness wherever beverages are purchased

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Answering First Lady Michelle Obama's call for innovative industry initiatives that contribute to her healthy families program, America's non-alcoholic beverage companies are coming together to make the calories in their products even more clear and consumer-friendly by putting the information on the front of all their packages, vending machines and fountain machines.

The voluntary commitment contributes to Mrs. Obama's efforts to help families make informed choices as part of a balanced lifestyle. The companies will coordinate with the Food and Drug Administration to implement the calorie initiative, which will go above and beyond what is required by the federal agency's food labeling regulations. The industry will start implementing the initiative across the country this year with completion in 2012.

"The beverage industry is taking the extra step of making the calories on its products more clear and useable for consumers so they can make balanced choices wherever they purchase our products," Susan Neely said. "By contributing to the First Lady's initiative, our industry is once again leading with a meaningful program to do its part in addressing social challenges. We applaud Mrs. Obama for her common-sense, balanced approach to a tough issue like childhood obesity, which will require contributions from all segments of society to fully tackle."

The beverage industry – whose leading companies include The Coca-Cola Company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo, Nestle Waters North America and Sunny Delight – is also committing to continue reducing the beverage calories in the marketplace through innovation, smaller portion sizes and further marketing of their low-calorie beverages.

This new initiative will display calories more prominently on:

* Product labels: Total calorie counts will be displayed on the front of labels for the entire container, up to and including 20-ounce products. A 12-ounce serving size will be used in displaying calories for multi-serve beverage packages (such as 2-liter bottles).

* Vending Machines: Total calorie counts for the entire container will be displayed on the beverage selection buttons of vending machines controlled by the companies.

* Fountain Machines: Calorie counts will be shown prominently on all fountain beverage machines.

The industry will coordinate with the FDA on its new calorie labeling initiative to ensure that the information on the front and back of a package is consistent. Also, industry supports the FDA evaluating serving sizes for the entire food and beverage industry as part of their current review of food labels.

The beverage industry is going to voluntarily explore other fact-based labeling on its packages, such as the feasibility of expanding the current information for percent of Daily Value, currently found in the Nutrition Facts Panel of all packaged foods and beverages, to include other nutrients and also put this information on the front of labels where relevant.

"Our companies are committed to fact-based labeling as well as seeking ways to make calories and other nutrition information more clear and accessible to consumers, particularly at the point of purchase," Neely said. "The more easy-to-use information we give consumers, the better they'll be able to choose the refreshing beverage that best meets their tastes and needs."

The American Beverage Association is the trade association representing the broad spectrum of companies that manufacture and distribute non-alcoholic beverages in the United States.

Caffeinated alcoholic beverages, or CABs, are alcoholic beverages that contain caffeine as an additive and are packaged in combined form.

Alcoholic beverages to which caffeine has been added as a separate ingredient have raised health concerns at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as in other federal, state, and local agencies.

FDA announced that it had sent warning letters to four companies that make malt versions of these beverages, advising them that the caffeine included as a separate ingredient is an “unsafe food additive."

These warning letters were not directed at alcoholic beverages that only contain caffeine as a natural constituent of one or more of their ingredients, such as a coffee flavoring.