As the different activities during American Heart Month come to a close this week, it is important to remind all of us what PepsiCo is doing to promote heart health and help reduce the burden of heart disease and its risk factors. As many of you know, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It is also a major cause of disability, reduced quality of life, and rising health care costs. It is now well-recognized that poor nutrition and physical inactivity are some of the most important factors that contribute to poor health. At PepsiCo, we are on a journey to transform our portfolio of products to support our consumers in their effort to reduce their risk of heart disease and promote overall well-being. We recognize that specific changes in food industry practices can favorably impact diet and nutrition,... Read more

PepsiCo applauds First Lady Michelle Obama’s announcement of the “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity. We believe that as one of the largest food and beverage companies, we can play an important role in supporting this critical initiative and we look forward to working in partnership with the White House, NGOs, and other companies to make real and lasting impacts on this issue. To demonstrate our support, we announced a new beverage labeling campaign today. To help consumers manage their calorie consumption, we’ll list calorie content on the front of all our beverage containers, vending machines and fountain equipment. Packages up to 20 ounces will be labeled with total calories and multi-serve containers will be labeled with calories-per-serving based on 12-ounce servings. These changes will be complete in 2012. We believe that “Let’s Move” will bring new momentum and focus to an issue we have been working on... Read more

PepsiCo showed up at the University of California, Davis Center for Entrepreneurship this week as a sponsor and participant in the Food and Health Entrepreneurship Academy. The academy attracts scientists in the fields of nutrition, viticulture and enology, plant science, biochemistry, nutritional genomics and fields relevant to foods for health. The discussions involved taking scientific ideas and turning them into viable business opportunities. I believe that PepsiCo is in the midst of an inspiring evolution that is leading the company to better provide consumers with more compelling product offerings, including nutrient-dense food and beverages that are affordable and accessible. My colleagues and I found participation in this event helped us to refresh our ideas, rethink the talent required to deliver, and work to redefine our business to keep it vibrant. At PepsiCo we are firm believers that the solutions to complex social problems like obesity and hunger... Read more