MN hospitals oust sodas

Grand Itasca Hospital in Grand Rapids, MN, has become the second medical center in Minnesota—after St. Luke's in Duluth—to ban the sale of sugary beverages. In the past few months, the two hospitals and their clinics have joined a small but growing national movement to rid medical centers of the popular drinks, which have been linked to obesity and diabetes. Under the new rules, which took effect Saturday, regular soda will disappear from Grand Itasca’s vending machines, cafeterias and patient menus, along with energy drinks, sports drinks, sweetened tea and coffee, and fruit juices “that are not 100 percent juice.” Instead, there’ll be plenty of water, low-fat milk, unsweetened coffee and tea, and diet soda.