During the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative last week in New York, one former President — the organization’s namesake Bill Clinton  — shared news relevant to a significant problem faced by the dental industry: childhood caries.

According to a story by  for nytimes.com, the three largest soda companies — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group — have pledged to cut the number of sugary drink calories that Americans consume by one-fifth in about a decade.

Mr. Clinton shared a personal anecdote with Strom to illustrate the challenge involved when changing habits:  “When I was in my freshman year in college trying to live on a dollar a day, I drank at least one and sometimes two 16-ounce bottles of Royal Crown Cola a day because they cost 15 cents,” he said.

A heart operation in 2004 seemed more than enough impetus for the former President’s change. He explained one radical diet shift. He now drinks “water or iced tea, though he likes Gatorade G2, a sports drink with 30 calories.”

Find out how the companies aim to reduce each American’s calorie consumption in sugary drinks by 20 percent on average by 2025:

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/business/big-soda-companies-agree-on-effort-to-cut-americans-drink-calories.html?_r=0