Soda pop is the drink of choice in rural Alaska Native villages, where milk can cost more than $9 a gallon and where clean water is scarce.

Nearly one-third of toddlers in rural villages have two or more cups of sugary drinks on an average day. That's significantly higher than the 3 percent of toddlers elsewhere in the state.

It's not just children either. Adults in rural Alaska drink about three times as much soda a day as adults in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

"I couldn't imagine that it was even worse than it is today," Troy Ritter, a senior environmental health consultant for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, told The Anchorage Daily News.

Heavy consumption of soda contributes to bad dental health, obesity and diabetes.

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Villagers can't kick soda pop habit (The Anchorage Daily News 7/20)
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