--- title: Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines description: Major soda makers, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will start displaying calorie counts on vending machines and encourage consumers to make lower-calorie... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-10-09T15:14:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:52:18.157Z article:section: Health og:title: Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines og:description: Major soda makers, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will start displaying calorie counts on vending machines and encourage consumers to make lower-calorie... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt539b38ac29858ded/698a932fb21a9c956f510282/ap719373818903.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: Calorie Count-vending Machines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines twitter:description: Major soda makers, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will start displaying calorie counts on vending machines and encourage consumers to make lower-calorie... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt539b38ac29858ded/698a932fb21a9c956f510282/ap719373818903.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 9, 2012 3:14 PM UTC  This undated image provided by the American Beverage Association shows a new soda vending machine. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper announced Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, that they'll roll out new vending machines as a response to the intensifying criticism over sugary sodas. The machines will let customers see the calorie counts on selection buttons, and will urge consumers to choose less sugary alternatives with messages such as "Try a Low-Calorie Beverage." (AP Photo/American Beverage Association) This undated image provided by the American Beverage Association shows a new soda vending machine. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper announced Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, that they'll roll out new vending machines as a response to the intensifying criticism over sugary sodas. The machines will let customers see the calorie counts on selection buttons, and will urge consumers to choose less sugary alternatives with messages such as "Try a Low-Calorie Beverage." (AP Photo/American Beverage Association) AP—AP2012 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 9, 2012 3:14 PM UTC Major soda makers, including [Coca-Cola](http://topics.time.com/coca--cola/), PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will start displaying calorie counts on vending machines and encourage [consumers](http://topics.time.com/consumers/) to make lower-calorie choices, starting in 2013. The beverage industry initiative, called the [Calories Count](http://www.deliveringchoices.org/#calorielabels) Vending program, will launch first in municipal buildings in [Chicago](http://topics.time.com/chicago/) and San Antonio, where government employees are participating in a “wellness challenge” to see who can make greater improvements in their health (as measured by factors like weight loss and lower blood pressure). The winning city gets a $5 million grant from the American Beverage Association. Soda companies said they planned to roll out the program nationwide in 2013 in [an effort to curb the nation’s obesity epidemic](http://www.ameribev.org/blog/2012/10/beverage-industry-delivers-for-chicago-and-san-antonio/). The initiative is the industry’s latest move to counter growing criticism of sugary beverages as a major cause of obesity in the U.S. and to fend off cities’ efforts to reduce consumption. (**MORE:** [Can Calorie Counts Convince Teens Not to Buy Sugary Drinks?](http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/16/study-calorie-counts-convinceteens-not-to-buy-sugary-drinks/)) Last month, New York City passed an [historic ban](http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/13/goodbye-big-soda-new-york-becomes-first-city-to-ban-large-sized-soft-drinks/) on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 oz., the first of its kind in the U.S. Cambridge, Mass., is considering doing something similar, while several other cities and communities are either raising soda taxes or voting to institute them. The new vending machine labels will encourage consumers to “Check Then Choose” or “Try a Low-Calorie Beverage.” Calorie counts will also be inserted on buttons. The plan falls in line with the Affordable Care Act’s [requirement](http://www.fda.gov/food/labelingnutrition/ucm217762.htm) that vending machines and restaurant chains with more than 20 locations display calorie information. Last month, McDonald’s also started printing calorie counts on its menus nationwide in advance of the new labeling requirements, which aren’t expected to take effect until the end of 2013. So, will calorie information change Americans’ dietary habits? Maybe. Some early research has suggested that calorie counts [didn’t do much](http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/27/do-calorie-counts-on-menus-curb-eating-not-so-much/) to curb fast-food consumption. But later studies have found that calorie information, when presented clearly — and at the point of sale — does tend to sway people’s eating and drinking behaviors. In a December study published in the _American Journal of Public Health_, for example, researchers at Johns Hopkins went to corner stores in predominantly black neighborhoods and posted signs with calorie information about sugary drinks (sodas, fruit drinks, energy drinks and the like) on refrigerated beverage cases. Overall, [the study found](http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/16/study-calorie-counts-convinceteens-not-to-buy-sugary-drinks/), black teens — a population that is more likely to consume sugary drinks and is at higher risk of obesity than other groups — were 40% less likely to buy soft drinks when they saw the calorie signs. They were even less likely to buy them when the calorie labels put information in context: for instance, by noting that it would take 50 minutes of running to burn off the calories in one sugary drink. Those signs reduced soda consumption by 50%. (**MORE:** [NYC’s Trans Fat Ban Worked: Fast-Food Diners Are Eating Healthier](http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/17/nycs-trans-fat-ban-worked-fast-food-diners-are-eating-healthier/)) A trio of studies published in the _New England Journal of Medicine_ last month suggests that Americans, especially children, could benefit from any effort to reduce soda consumption. The studies showed that limiting kids’ access to sugary drinks — and giving them water or other zero-calorie drinks instead — can [help kids lose weight or curb their weight gain](http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/22/studies-show-that-cutting-out-soda-curbs-childrens-weight-gain/). For people who are already genetically predisposed to obesity, the research showed, drinking soda can make their weight problem even worse. The soda companies’ new initiative, which will also increase the availability of low-calorie and zero-calorie drink options in vending machines, seems to be a step in the right direction. “People tend to overconsume products with sugar and for these companies to be doing something that may decrease consumption of their sugared beverages surprises me,” Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, [told](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/business/pepsi-and-coke-to-post-calories-of-drinks-sold-in-vending-machines.html) the New York _Times_. “But it does seem to me to be a positive move.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/"},"headline":"Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines","datePublished":"2012-10-09T15:14:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:52:18.157Z","description":"Major soda makers, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will start displaying calorie counts on vending machines and encourage consumers to make lower-calorie...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/","keywords":["diet","Nutrition","Soda"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt539b38ac29858ded/698a932fb21a9c956f510282/ap719373818903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt539b38ac29858ded/698a932fb21a9c956f510282/ap719373818903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Calorie Count-vending Machines","caption":"Calorie Count-vending Machines","creditText":"AP—AP2012","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7137465/soda-makers-will-post-calorie-counts-on-vending-machines/","name":"Soda Makers Will Post Calorie Counts on Vending Machines"}}]}] ```