Milpitas Doctor Wants Kids To Drink More Water

The following press release is from Kaiser Permanente.

It’s the beginning of the summer season and for Dr. Mandira Matta, time to step up Kaiser Permanente’s annual campaign urging young patients to give up sodas and sugary juice drinks for the season.  For three years now, the Kaiser Permanente Milpitas Pediatrician has led the charge to get her patients to have a “Soda Free Summer” and more recently, to “Re-Think their Drink.”

“Whatever the program is called, it’s important,” says Dr. Matta, “do you know how much sugar is in those drinks and what the long term effects of sugar are?”

Answer that question “no” and Dr. Matta can tell you quickly, or she can direct you a charming minute-long YouTube cartoon that Kaiser Permanente helped produce for the Santa Clara County Health Department:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-haqmmXyY.   In the cartoon, a very smart little girl shows a soda-loving little boy that the average soft drink contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, and drinking 3 cans-a-day can lead to drinking 90 pounds of sugar each year.

The little boy gets nauseated at the idea of sipping up a pile of sugar as big as he is.

“I don’t think people…..especially children…. realize how much sugar they consume just from what they drink every day,” says Dr. Matta.   “That’s why we all recommend water instead of sodas.”

Dr. Matta says most Kaiser Permanente pediatricians urge their young patients to switch to water. But she takes it one step farther.

“We have a little conversation,” smiles Dr. Matta.  “I ask the child what is his or her drink of choice.  When they tell me, I show them with the help of a sugar content chart, how much sugar is in the drink.”

“When the children learn how much sugar is in their drink, the reaction is something like, ‘Oh I had no idea this drink has so much sugar! Gosh, I can’t believe it’ they’ll say and they’ll be astounded”, reports Dr. Matta.

Sugary sodas and juice drinks are a contributing factor for some frightening statistics in Santa Clara County: one-in-three children are either obese or overweight; for 7^th, 9^th, and 11^th graders, the number is one-in-four.  Nationally, the rates of Type 2 diabetes in children are rising dramatically, and it is possible that the upcoming generation of children will die before their parents die, costing the nation billions for their health care. Recently, Kaiser Permanente supported the 4-part HBO documentary on obesity, “Weight of the Nation.” 

“After we talk about the sugar they’re drinking, I ask if they’re willing to commit to a summer without soda.  If they are, we sign a very informal contract, and they get a raffle ticket which is deposited in a big jar in our Pediatrics Department.”

Dr. Matta and her colleagues also hand out copies of the “Potter the Otter” book. It’s a kid’s paperback that follows the adventures of a water-loving otter.  Potter is the service mark of First Five California, and the symbol of statewide efforts to get kids to drink more water:  the other day, Dr. Matta posed in front of a huge Potter inflatable at the Kaiser Milpitas medical office.

At the end of the summer, Dr. Matta’s team starts calling the patients who signed the contract.  Those who stayed off sugar get a chance to win a prize.

“It’s a nice prize but the best gift”, says Dr. Matta, “is that young people can see they were able to stay away from sugary drinks for a time, so it might be easier to continue to make long term healthful changes."