Health experts have called on Olympic organizers to cut ties with Coca-Cola, saying the current high-stakes sponsorship deal allows the US company to sell huge amounts of unhealthy sugary drinks.
Events during the Paris Games are peppered with ads for the ubiquitous Coca-Cola soda, which has sponsored the Olympics since 1928.
However, according to Trish Cotter and Sandra Mullin of global health group Vital Strategies, these sugary drinks "offer little or no nutritional value" and advertising such unhealthy products has no place in sports.
Sugary drinks are a "major contributor" to several serious health problems affecting people around the world, including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, the pair wrote in a commentary in the journal BMJ Global Health.
Coca-Cola products also contribute to global plastic pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions and use up a huge amount of water, they added.
"By continuing its association with Coca-Cola, the Olympic movement risks becoming complicit in fueling the global epidemic of malnutrition, environmental destruction and climate change," the authors wrote.
"It is time for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to cut ties with Coca-Cola in the interest of athletes, spectators and the planet," the experts said. | BGNES
