A Dietitian's View

The campaign comes amid indications that New Yorkers are starting to cut back on the nation's leading source of excess calories. The Health Department reported that the proportion of New York City adults consuming one or more sugary drinks each day declined by about 12% between 2007 and 2009.

The decline is a sign of progress in New York City's prolonged battle against obesity - but the battle is far from over. Sugared beverages still add millions of empty calories to New Yorkers' diets each year, and roughly 3 out of 5 New Yorkers are overweight or obese.

The Health Department's new ad is part of a continuing effort to encourage that trend. Last summer the agency caught New Yorkers' attention with a subway poster that showed soda turning to blubber as it tumbled from a bottle into a glass. "Are you pouring on the pounds?" it asked. "Don't drink yourself fat." The agency raised the stakes a few months later, with an online video in which a man downs a glass of the same fatty substance, pretending to enjoy it.

The posters debuting this month take a similar tack, but they go a step further, showing the actual sugar content of a 20-ounce bottle of soda (16 packets) - or a 32-ounce bucket (26 packets). Each image is accompanied by a reminder that sugar consumed in these quantities can lead to obesity and other health consequences, such as diabetes and heart disease.