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UC Research Consortium on Beverages & Health

University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health

Bringing Science to Policy

The University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health, formed in 2018, aims to provide legislators and communities with the science base for policy and programs to decrease consumption of sugary drinks and increase consumption of water. The group includes faculty from every UC campus. The Consortium is driven by the evidence-based recognition that sugary drinks are the largest single source of the added sugars that are a leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease, dental decay and other conditions, that these conditions disproportionately harm low-income people and communities of color, and, in addition, that sugary drink production exacts a heavy environmental toll.

Resources

Best of Science Letters

Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2022

  • Added Sugars - Request to Congress to direct the USDA to develop and implement an explicit standard that limits added sugars in the federal child nutrition program meals and snacks and for competitive foods. 7 March 2022. [Letter]

Public Comment

2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

  • Comments to the US Department of Health and Human Services and USDA regarding scientific questions related to sugar-sweetened beverages and drinking water to be examined to support the development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030.

Food and Drug Administration, 2024

  • Comments to the US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition on strategies to reduce added sugars consumption in the United States (1/22/24)

UCRC Core Members

Name UC Campus
Paul Brown, PhD, MS UC Merced
David Cleveland, PhD, MS UC Santa Barbara
Pat Crawford, DrPH, RD, MPH UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
Jennifer Falbe, ScD, MPH UC Davis
Christina Hecht, PhD UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
Ken Hecht, LLB UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
Cristin Kearns, DDS, MBA UC San Francisco
Robert Lustig, MD UC San Francisco
Kristine Madsen, MD, MPH UC Berkeley
Isaac Martin, PhD, MA UC San Diego
Mehdi Nemati, PhD, MS UC Riverside
Francisco Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MS, MPH UC Los Angeles
Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH UC San Francisco
Wendelin Slusser, MD, MS UC Los Angeles
Karen Sokol-Gutierrez, MD, MPH UC Berkeley
Kimber Stanhope, PhD, MS, RD UC Davis
Petra Wilder-Smith, LDS RCS, DMD, PhD UC Irvine
Cherie Wink, RDHMP, BS UC Irvine
Diana Winters, JD, PhD UC Los Angeles

• For more information about UCRC, contact: ceahecht@ucanr.edu •

Related UC-curated Websites