(CNN) Physicians' groups have long taken a stand against high consumption of sugary drinks in the United States -- and now they are calling for several policies to limit access to sugar-sweetened beverages among children and teens.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association released policy recommendations on Monday targeted at federal, state and local lawmakers, encouraging them to implement policies that would reduce children's intake of sugary drinks, such as sodas, sports drinks and juice.

The policy statement is the first time AAP has recommended taxes on sugary drinks, it said.

"I talk with my patients and their families all the time about the health harms of sugary drinks and the advantage of drinking primarily water and milk. But still, sugary drinks are a mainstay in many children's diets. They are inexpensive, easy to find, heavily marketed, and taste sweet, so children like them," said Dr. Natalie Muth, a practicing pediatrician and registered dietitian in Carlsbad, California, who was lead author of the policy statement, published in the journal Pediatrics.

"At the same time, pediatricians are diagnosing type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and high cholesterol in our young patients. These are health problems that we rarely saw in children in the past. These are health problems associated with high sugar intake," Muth said.

"We have tried, and failed, to curb sugary drink intake through education and individual choices alone," she said. "Just like policy changes were necessary and effective in reducing consumption of tobacco and alcohol, we need policy changes that will help reduce sugary drink consumption in children and adolescents."

Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? In the following slides, we compare the amount of sugar found in some of America's top-selling beverages -- according to Beverage Industry magazine's 2013 State of the Industry Report -- to the sugar found in common sugary snacks. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Soda: Coca-Cola – A 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola Classic contains 65 grams of sugar, which is the same amount of sugar found in five Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Soda: Pepsi – A 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi contains 69 grams of sugar. Each Little Debbie Swiss Roll contains an estimated 13 grams of sugar. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Juice: Minute Maid 100% Apple Juice – This 15.2-ounce bottle contains 49 grams of sugar, which is about the amount of sugar in 10 Oreos. Sugar occurs naturally in fruit, but natural sugar isn't any different in chemical structure from what most people refer to as added sugar. The body processes both the same way. One benefit of eating whole fruit is the fiber that helps slow absorption; that fiber is generally lost in the juice-making process. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Juice: SunnyD Original – A 16-ounce bottle of SunnyD Original contains 28 grams of sugar. Each these six Oreos contains about 4.6 grams of sugar. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Tea: Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng & Honey – A 23-ounce can of Arizona Green Tea contains 51 grams of sugar, which is about the same as can be found in 20 Hershey's Kisses. The World Health Organization recently proposed new guidelines that recommend consuming less than 5% of our total daily calories from added sugars. For an adult at a normal body mass index, or BMI, 5% would be around 25 grams of sugar -- or six teaspoons. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Tea: Lipton Lemon Iced Tea – There are 32 grams of sugar in this 20-ounce bottle of iced tea. Each of these 12 Hershey's Kisses contains approximately 2.5 grams of sugar. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Energy drink: Red Bull – Three-quarters of a cup of generic-brand frosted flakes contains about 11 grams of sugar. This 16-ounce can of Red Bull has 52 grams of sugar. Red Bull and many of the companies in this gallery offer lower or no-sugar versions of their drinks. "Nearly half -- 45% -- of all non-alcoholic beverages contain 0% (sugar)," said Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesman for the American Beverage Association. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Energy drink: Monster Energy – This 16-ounce can of Monster Energy has 54 grams of sugar. It contains the same amount of sugar as about 3.5 cups of frosted flakes. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Milk: Generic skim milk – An 8-ounce glass of skim milk has about 11 grams of sugar. A single Starburst candy has 2.7 grams. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Milk: Silk Vanilla Soymilk – A glass of vanilla soymilk has about 8 grams of sugar, which is equal to the amount found in three Starbursts. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Milk: Silk Almond Milk Original – A glass of original almond milk contains 7 grams of sugar. Unsweetened almond milk has 0 grams. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Juice smoothie: Naked Berry Blast – The 15.2-ounce bottle of Naked Berry Blast has 29 grams of sugar. Each of these eight Chips Ahoy! cookies contains about 3.6 grams of sugar.

Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Juice smoothie: Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost – You'd consume 24 grams of sugar by drinking this Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost 15.2-ounce bottle -- or by eating six Chips Ahoy! cookies. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Sports drink: Gatorade Thirst Quencher Cool Blue – This 32-ounce Gatorade bottle has 56 grams of sugar, the same that can be found in approximately five Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Sports drink: Powerade Mountain Berry Blast – Powerade's Mountain Berry Blast also has 56 grams of sugar. Each of these five Reese's cups contains about 11 grams of sugar. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Iced coffee: Starbucks Iced Flavored Latte – A Grande Starbucks Iced Flavored Latte with 2% milk and your choice of syrup has about 28 grams of sugar. The same amount of sugar is in 2.5 Krispy Kreme donuts. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: How much sugar is in that drink? Iced coffee: Dunkin Donuts Iced Caramel Latte – A 16-ounce Dunkin Donuts Iced Caramel Latte has 37 grams of sugar. Each Krispy Kreme donut has about 11 grams of sugar. Hide Caption 18 of 18

The policy statement specifically calls for:

an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages;

federal and state governments to support a decrease in marketing of sugary drinks to children and teens;

federal nutrition assistance programs to ensure access to healthy foods and discourage consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks;

regulations that require added sugars content to be included on nutrition labels, restaurant menus, and advertisements;

making healthy beverages, like milk and water, the default on children's menus;

and an implementation of policies in hospitals to limit or disincentivize purchasing sugary drinks.

Out of all of those policy recommendations, Muth said that a sugary drink excise tax has the greatest "evidence and precedent" to be most impactful.

"We know that an increase in price leads to a decrease in consumption," she said. "We know from the examples of communities where a sugary tax has already been implemented," such as Mexico and Berkeley, California

In response to the policy statement, "America's beverage companies believe there's a better way to help reduce the amount of sugar consumers get from beverages and it includes putting parents in the driver's seat to decide what's best for their children," William Dermody, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association , which represents the non-alcoholic beverage industry, said in a statement.

The association argues that beverages are not unique drivers of obesity rates and obesity-related diseases in the United States, as obesity rates have been rising while soda consumption rates have been declining.

"We are supporting parents who want less sugar in their kids' diets by creating more drinks than ever before with less or no sugar, as well as smaller portion sizes, and by backing efforts to make water, milk or 100 percent juice the default beverages restaurants serve with children's meals," he added. "Today, 50 percent of all beverages sold contain zero sugar as we drive toward a goal of reducing beverage calories consumed by 20 percent by 2025."

Efforts to make water or milk default beverages served on children's menus were among the policy recommendations put forth in the new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Heart Association.

The new policy statement comes on the heels of a separate study, published last week in the journal Circulation , which found a positive association between the long-term consumption of sugary drinks and premature death in adults in the United States.

"Most of my work has focused on adults and we have shown that, in addition to weight gain, regular consumption of sugary beverages is associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, some cancers and premature death," said Vasanti Malik, a research scientist in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 's Department of Nutrition, who was not involved in the new policy statement but led that separate study.

She also praised the new policy statement.

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"I thought the joint statement provided a good summary of some key policy strategies to support a reduction in intake of sugary drinks for children and adults," Malik said about the policy statement. "The reason for this call to action is because of the strong and consistent evidence linking intake of sugary beverages to adverse health outcomes."