Recently it's become very clear that manufacturers of soda and other soft drinks have quite a bit in common with the makers of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

I saw a magazine ad recently, paid for by the Coca Cola Bottling Company, that was so similar to a Philip Morris ad that it was eerie. The full page ad stated that recent studies indicate that in regards to hydration, liquid is liquid, so coffee, tea and soft drinks can be substituted for water.

Admittedly, this is something that I have read in the past, and I would say you're probably not doing too badly if you drink (real) fruit juice in moderate quantities along with either coffee or tea. But lumping soft drinks into that mix is an incredibly BAD idea.

The ad went on to state that of course water is better for you, but hey, it's OK if you drink something else (preferably one of their products, of course). In my mind this is so close to the Philip Morris "Cigarettes are really bad for you and we don't want you to smoke... but we won't stop selling them." hypocritical ad campaign that it gave me the creeps.

As if people aren't uneducated enough when it comes to nutrition in general and how terribly unhealthy soft drinks are for you, here comes an ad like this.

Following on the heels of this ad, I recently read an article in the paper discussing some studies that have linked the massive (no pun intended) rise in obesity in the U.S. primarily to the increased consumption of soft drinks in general and soda in particular. Of course an industry spokesman quickly spoke out rebutting the results, saying that the cause and effect of obesity is being confused. In other words more people who are obese drink soda, but they drink soda because they're obese and it's not the soda that contributed to their obesity.

That's such a stupid statement that it would laughable if it was coming from some "man on the street", but coming from a representative of the soft drink industry it's as scary to me as the tobacco industry executives' denials that cigarettes caused lung cancer back in the 70s.

Victor Holtreman is the author of Lose the Last 10 Pounds, an eBook which chronicles his 2 month journey from 13% to 9% body fat using kettlebells.