Patch Poll: Should We Tax Soda To Discourage Obesity?

The big news coming out of last week’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, D.C., was a public health report that predicts that if Americans keep getting heavier at the current rate, 42 percent of the population will be obese by 2030.

Childhood obesity in the U.S. has more than tripled in the last 30 years, according to the CDC, which states that in 2008, a third of U.S. children were overweight or obese. The percentage of children 6 to 11 defined as obese rose from 7 percent in 1980 to almost 20 percent in 2008

And, America’s obesity problem may hinder the number of organ donors. The pool of potential living kidney donors may be shrinking because of the national obesity "epidemic," ABC News reported May 13. In a single-center study, almost a quarter of willing donors were initially excluded because they were too heavy, Dr. Mala Sachdeva of North Shore-LIJ Health System Transplant Center on Long Island, N.Y., and colleagues reported at the National Kidney Foundation meeting in New York. And only a small percentage of those patients were ultimately able to lose enough weight to donate a kidney, despite their initial motivation, Sachdeva said.

There are many ideas about how to fight this battle of the bulge. One is taxing soda, as Chicago is considering.

Is that a small step toward the solution? Take the poll and tell us what you think.

Number 1s

Patch readers disagree with Billboard when it comes to songs that will stand the test of time.

Last week’s asked Patch readers their opinions about popular music. Billboard picked a list of "Hot 100" No. 1 songs for the time period including May 7, at the beginning each decade, going back to 1970, as listed on Digitaldreamdoor.com.

Which one of these songs will endure and be remembered 50 years from now? Fifty-three percent of readers said "ABC" by The Jackson 5 has staying power. A total of 29 percent said we will not be humming any of the others. Here are the rest of the results.

• 1980, April 19-May 30: "Call Me" by Blondie; 8 percent  
• 1990, April 21-May 18: "Nothing Compares to You" by Sinead O'Connor; 2 percent
• 2000, April 8-June 16: "Maria Maria" by Santana, featuring Wyclef Jean/The Product G&B; 0 percent
• 2010, May 1-May 14: "Nothin' On You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars, 5 percent