Let's raise our glasses — filled with milk or unsweetened fruit juice, of course — and drink a toast to the beverage industry executives who have seen the light about the social costs of marketing sugary soda to schoolkids.

The toll has been taken on the health of those children. National studies show about 2 million American children ages 12 to 19 with a pre-diabetic condition linked to obesity and inactivity.

Research in Hawai'i shows our children overweight at a factor of about twice that of Mainland kids.

Of course, soda consumption alone can't be blamed, but the recent corporate decision to pull sugary drinks off campuses can be applauded as a step in the right direction.

Under that accord, the nation's three largest beverage distributors agreed that by the 2009-2010 school year to sell sodas only on high school campuses, and only diet sodas at that.

Younger kids' choices will be limited to milk, water and nutrient-containing juices. And all the 20-ounce containers will be gone, too: Jumbo servings are packed with calories.

In Hawai'i, policy already restricts 80 percent of vending machine stock to the healthier drinks, but the new agreement is a welcome improvement. The state should regard it as only the beginning. The more we can do to promote good nutrition on school campuses — as soon as possible — the better for our kids.