U.C.S.F.’s policy may be the most far-reaching. It applies not only to its medical center, but the entire university, including the aforementioned 24,000 employees and its 8,500 visitors and patients each year. Visitors to the campus now will find only bottled water, diet drinks, unsweetened teas, and in some cases 100 percent fruit juice with no added sugar.

Michael Flanders, an assistant specialist in the medical center’s division of hematology and oncology, said he had been consuming “tons” of added sugar daily from San Pellegrino Limonatas and other sugary drinks. But when the policy went into effect and the drinks disappeared, sparkling water became his drink of choice.

“It took my taste buds a couple months to adjust, but I’ve come to genuinely enjoy black coffee and unflavored fizzy water,” he said. “Soda and sugary coffee drinks now seem overwhelmingly sweet.”

But while the university says it hopes its policy will become a model for other large employers to follow, the beverage industry argues that the strategy is flawed. It points out that obesity rates have been climbing even as America’s soda intake has declined in recent years. And it says that focusing blame on soda alone, rather than calories from all foods, is misguided.

“Obesity rates have gone up steadily for years at the same time soda consumption has gone down for years,” said William Dermody, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association.

But Ms. Schmidt said it doesn’t make sense for doctors to urge patients to cut back on sweetened beverages while a university medical center continues to sell those same drinks. “I’ve spent years in the addiction field, and the first thing we tell people is that if you want to quit something, get it out of your environment,” she said.

Getting the university to stop selling sugary drinks was surprisingly easy, Ms. Schmidt and her colleagues say. The school’s chancellor, after some initial reluctance, decided that the goal was important, and many faculty members supported the idea. The university’s beverage supplier then agreed to stock the campus stores and cafeterias with mostly water and zero-calorie drinks. One exception was made for 100 percent fruit juices, which have natural but not added sugars.