My daughter has been struggling with being overweight and high blood pressure for a number of years. Ive been worried about her, wondering if she would die before me.

She lives the typical American lifestyle: totally car dependent and eating too much unhealthy food. Shes long been concerned about what she calls an addiction to Coca Cola and Pepsi, and has been trying to break this addiction since her weight started to increase.

I saw her last week for the first time in several months, and I was overjoyed to see how much weight shed lost. I asked her, How did you lose the weight? Did you go dancing more often? She gets her only exercise by going to country western dances two or three times per week.

She said, Not dancing more. I was finally able to quit drinking Pepsis and Cokes. And I cut back some on how much I was eating. Her blood pressure dropped with the weight loss.

For some people these soft drinks are just as addictive as alcohol or tobacco, and are very high in calories. Ive been hearing bad things for years about the high fructose corn syrup that the soft drink makers use for cheap sweetener.

These soft drinks are an unhealthy part of our lives. I ask everyone involved with their manufacture and sale to examine his or her conscience concerning the personal ethics of earning money by contributing to poor health in this country.

JUDY RICHMOND

Astoria