UC Research Consortium on Beverages & 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.
Factsheets and Infographics
- Factsheet: How Four Cities in California Are Using Sugary Drink Tax Revenues. University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
- Factsheet: What Are Sugary Drinks? University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
- Factsheet: Health Harms of Sugary Drinks. University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
- Factsheet: 7 Reasons to Skip Sugary Drinks. University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
- Factsheet: The Heavy Environmental Impact of Sugary Drinks. University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
- Factsheet: Sugary Drinks and COVID. University of California Research Consortium on Beverages and Health. American Heart Association. November 2022.
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.
- Comments on Added Sugars
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 Div. Agriculture & Natural Resources |
| James Doucet-Battle, PhD | UC Santa Cruz |
| Jennifer Falbe, ScD, MPH | UC Davis |
| Christina Hecht, PhD | UC Div. Agriculture & Natural Resources |
| Ken Hecht, LLB | UC Div. Agriculture & Natural Resources |
| Jeannie Huang, MD, MPH | UC San Diego |
| 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 |
• For more information about UCRC, contact: ceahecht@ucanr.edu •