Most soft drinks and juices are high in sugar; so the best solution for this obesity epidemic is to add an extra tax to high fructose drinks. Sugary drinks can lead to serious illnesses or health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, or even premature death. Taxing sugary drinks would be the best solution to prevent these health problems, as it would lower the percentage of people who buy them. Many people are not rich and barely have enough to eat and necessities, so they cannot afford to buy a sweet drink. Americans don't need sweet drinks to survive, they can live on water or less sugary drinks. In a controversy, many people disagree and doubt that taxing sugary drinks would help reduce health illnesses. “If we taxed by BMI, a 300-pound person might lose 10% of their body weight, but it wouldn't lower their BMI significantly” (Ousborne 648). In other words, it might help somewhat, but it wouldn't make much difference. It wouldn't prevent heart attacks, type two diabetes, or other diseases; it would only reduce body weight. It would also be too harsh towards others and would discriminate against overweight people. According to Kevin Keane, senior vice president of the American Beverage Association, "sugary drinks account for only 7 percent of calories in the American diet" (Clemmit 801), which doesn't make a big difference. is that approximately 31.7% of children are overweight or have health problems, including premature death. You have to do something, even when you do very little work, it helps in many ways. It probably won't make a big difference, but it will... a means of paper... drinks will affect family members and even their children. The solution to eliminating all these types of deaths among Americans is to tax high-calorie drinks. People can't afford to pay extra for unhealthy food, which makes it a good plan to help Americans lose weight and stop being obese. Sweet drinks are not good and are not necessary for survival. Works Cited Clemmit, Marcia. “Sugar Controversies.” Nov. 30 2012:n. page QC Researcher. Network. April 8, 2014.Ousborne, Jeff. “This tax makes me look fat.” Models for college writing: A reader and rhetorical guide. 12th ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen 12. Mardell. Boston: Bedford, 2012. Pq. Pages 647 – 650. Engber, Daniel. “Let them drink water.” Models for college writing: A reader and rhetorical guide. 12th ed. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen 12. Mardell. Boston: Bedford, 2012. Pq. Page 632-633.