Pre-medical society raises awareness of obesity epidemic

Submitted by Adam McMahan
Phone: (907) 455 3808
11/13/04

More than twenty students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Pre-medical society are pushing to raise campus awareness of the negative effects of soft drinks.

Students are collaborating with the American Medical Student Association, the nationäó»s largest, independent medical student organization, on National No Soda Day, Nov. 18, 2004. The day is set aside as a day where medical students and others will refrain from drinking äóìliquid candy.äó? This event is part of AMSAäó»s Obesity Action Week.

äóìDrinking sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, dramatically increases a personäó»s risk of being overweight,äó? says Lenny Lesser, AMSAäó»s Obesity Policy Coordinator äóìWe need a national effort to get these drinks out of our schools and our hospitals.äó? AMSA and the UAF Pre-medical society believe that school districts should eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages from their schools. Multiple studies have found that soda is related to obesity in children.

For more information on Obesity Action Week and No Soda Day, visit AMSAäó»s website at www.amsa.org/hp/nosoda.cfm .

The UAF Pre-medical Society strives to provide the UAF campus and Fairbanks community as a whole with enhanced access to quality healthcare information, health-care leadership development, and support for the creative ideas of physicians-in-training.

With more than a half-century history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the U.S. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. With nearly 50,000 members, including medical and premedical students, residents and practicing physicians, AMSA is committed to improving medical training as well as advancing the profession of medicine.