The major soda (carbonated beverage) marketers are having a tough go of it some locales where sales are saturated. But an even bigger issue is that many people are turning away from soda because of health concerns.

Recently, the New York Times ran a major story entitled: “The Decline of ‘Big Soda”; it reported that “the drop in soda consumption represents the single largest change in the American diet in the last decade.”

In this story, Margot Sanger-Katz observed that:

“Even as anti-obesity campaigners have failed to pass soda taxes, they have accomplished something larger. In the course of the fight, they have reminded people that soda is not a very healthy product. They have echoed similar messages coming from public health researchers and others — and fundamentally changed the way Americans think about soda. Over the last 20 years, sales of full-calorie soda in the United States have plummeted by more than 25 percent. Soda consumption, which rocketed from the 1960s through 1990s, is now experiencing a serious and sustained decline.”

“Sales are stagnating as a growing number of Americans say they are actively trying to avoid the drinks that have been a mainstay of American culture. Sales of bottled water have shot up, and bottled water is now on track to overtake soda as the largest beverage category in two years, according to at least one industry projection.”

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                           Photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times