On Monday, regulations become law in New Jersey - to be fully phased in by September 2007 - that will ban soda, candy and foods listing sugar as the first or principal ingredient from almost all school cafeterias from prekindergarten to high school.

New York has certainly been slower than New Jersey, most of whose school cafeterias will have banned soda, candy and foods listing sugar as the first or principal ingredient by September 2007.

Acknowledging that obesity is epidemic among New York City schoolchildren, the Education Department is reducing the fat content in the 800,000 meals it serves daily and banning candy, soda and other sugary snacks from school vending machines.

And imagine the health gains if we banned potato chips and soda from schools.

In states that banned only soda, students bought and consumed sugary drinks just as frequently at school as their peers in states where there were no bans at all.

It was the first hospital in the United States to ban sugar-sweetened soda and sports drinks.

The Snapple juice drinks, specifically created to meet rules banning soda and other sugary snacks from city schools, are marketed under the "Snapple 100% Juiced!"

The Food Trust's research on childhood obesity led the Philadelphia school system to ban soda vending machines from all of its schools, the strongest measure in the country.

But members last year found the gumption to oppose the bottling interests in banning soda from public schools.

The blends - Green Apple, Orange Mango, Grape and Fruit Punch - were created to meet rules that ban soda, candy and other sugary snacks from being sold in the schools.