heatheraloo

A single can of soda a day can add 15 up to pounds a year, report says

Updated: 6:57 p.m. ET Aug 8, 2006
MILWAUKEE - Americans have sipped their way to fatness by drinking far more soda and other sugary drinks over the last four decades, a new scientific review concludes.

An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds (7 kilograms) in a single year, and the evidence strongly suggests that this sort of increased consumption is a key reason that more people have gained weight, the researchers say.

"We tried to look at the big picture rather than individual studies," and it clearly justifies public health efforts to limit sugar-sweetened beverages, said Dr. Frank Hu, who led the report published Tuesday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

He and others at the Harvard School of Public Health reviewed 40 years of nutrition studies that met strict standards for relevance and scientific muster. The work was funded by ongoing grants to his lab from the federal government and the American Heart Association.

Soft drink trends have marched lock-step with the growing obesity epidemic, but industry groups have long fought efforts to say one directly caused the other. Not all studies conclude that beverages are at fault, and the new analysis ignored some that would have discounted such a link, the American Beverage Association said in a statement issued in response to the study.

"Blaming one specific product or ingredient as the root cause of obesity defies common sense. Instead, there are many contributing factors, including regular physical activity," the statement says.

However, Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital in Boston and a longtime advocate of curbs on soda, said blaming other factors misses the point.

"Could you imagine somebody saying we should ignore the contribution of hypertension to heart attack because there are many causes? It's ludicrous. Yet this argument resurfaces with regard to obesity," Ludwig said.

When it comes to beverage trends and obesity, "it's like documenting the force of gravity," he said. "There's an overwhelmingly strong case to be made for a causal relationship."

About one-third of all carbohydrate calories in the American diet come from added sweeteners, and beverages account for about half of this amount, the new report says.

Unlike other carbohydrates, the main sweetener in beverages — high-fructose corn syrup — does not spur production of insulin to make the body "process" calories. It also does not spur leptin, a substance that helps moderate appetite. For these reasons, beverages are not as satisfying as foods containing similar amounts of calories and fly under the radar of the body's normal weight-regulating mechanisms, many nutrition experts say.

The 30 studies included in the new review are of different types — experiments where beverages were curtailed or modified, studies of cross-sections of the population. While all do not show harm, they collectively suggest that soda and sugary drinks "should be discouraged," the authors write.

Federal dietary guidelines recommend beverages without added sugars, and the World Health Organization advises that added sugars should provide no more than 10 percent of total calories.

Increasingly, sugary drinks are being restricted in U.S. schools. In May, top beverage distributors agreed to stop selling non-diet sodas in certain schools and restricted sales in certain settings where young children buy them.

Let's ban soda!......

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Troile

Does it really take a scientific study to figure this out?

Sugar will hurt your immune system too.

"diet" pop is far worse for you though. Aspartame is evil stuff.

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No Typical Raver

true story: i stopped drinking pop pretty much altogether a few months ago. the only time i drink it is when there's nothing else, and at that point i'll choose a clear pop. i feel SO much better lately. gatorade is where its at

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heatheraloo

Hi, I'm Heather.

I'm addicted to energy drinks...

..Monster Assault... Mmmm..

heatheraloo

But water is my fave!!!!!!!!!!

DJ Tranzit

unless you're actually working out and sweating a lot at the time, "sports" drinks are supposedly bad for you.

They contain a lot of salts, from my understanding..
They can cause kidney stones / gull stones, which are NOT pleasant!

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the architech

yeah, that's definitely true
they're made to replace salt you loose while sweating. if you're not sweating and loosing the salt they're meant to replace, then you're overdosing on salt and yeah, can get kidney/gull stones.

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DJ Tranzit

if you've ever seen a grown man curled up in the fetal position crying like a baby, because he can't pass kidney stones, it'll scare the shit out of you..

so much so, you'll do whatever it takes not to get them.

No Typical Raver

yeah my job keeps me moving so i end up working up a sweat. then combine working while listening to my iPod and rocking out, and said sweating doubles

heatheraloo

yum, sweat. i can honestly say that after a workout i love being drenched in sweat. its a real feeling of accomplishment. i like to let it air-dry, lol.

Snuffy

I probably drink more coke than water. How do I stay so thin?

heatheraloo

good metabolism? I was just telling my b/f that he could only eat cake everyday and still be thin.....ah.. how great that must be...

Snuffy

The only time I gained a significant amout of weight was when I worked at McDs during high school. I went from 125 lbs to 130 lbs. Mind you, in the last five years I've gone up to 138 lbs.

That might be a warning sign, and I've been trying to change my diet. I only eat fast food five or eight times a week now. I feel accomplished

Troile

In highschool I drank pop everyday and ate chips and other such things. I was 150...and I'm the type to not gain weight.

Well when I stopped all of that I dropped down to 130-135.

It also isn't so much weight gain that is bad but just how you feel in general. Even if you feel good you'll feel better if you eat healthier foods.

Snuffy

True... I've noticed double quarter pounders tend to slow me down, but they're so tasty.

No Typical Raver

i need to order more mangosteen juice

the architech

I eat fast food maybe once a year and I try not to drink soda ever. I've been at like 130 for maybe 8 years now. I mean, I eat whatever I want (thank God for an awesome metabolism) but I still don't eat fast food or drink soda just cause it makes me feel like shit.

DJ Tranzit

i ate mcdonalds and other fast food (greasy stuff, bad stuff) almost every day at lunch.
Now, I either pack my own lunch, or try for healthier alternatives, such as Pitas, wraps, Subway subs/sandwiches, or other local places that have a good menu.

In the end, eating healthier from restraunts costs more, but really, it's quite nominal.

I was a solid 135-140 for YEARS. I slowly creeped up to 145, but didn't move much past that.

Now, since I've cut back on the crappy food, I've actually put on some weight. I'm up to 160 now, and I think I look good. I have a tiny bit of a tummy going, but I think that was formed when I started drinking a lot of beer last year.

I've cut back on drinking, almost to the point where I don't anymore, and replaced it with regular meals.


I also drank LITRES of Coke each day. Now.. I'll have a can here and there, but maybe 4 a week.. 6-7 tops. Water seems to be my beverage of choice now. I find I drink less of it, as it's not flavoured, and that's what I liked. Maybe something like flavor crystals... *shrug*

Ugh, this is so dis-organized, but.. you get the general idea.



I think I'm going to splurge today and get a big mac or Big Bacon Classic..
I'm totally craving something fatty and nasty.

heatheraloo

I eat at fast food for lunch particularly for the value menu... 2 items and a water for $2.12; thats a full-lunch. Wendys has the hook-up b/c I can get a baked potato (which isnt horrible for you at all) and then a side salad and water. Seems like slowly but surely fast food places are having healthier menu options... (ie. mcdonalds new snack wrap, heard its good but yet to try it)

the architech

don't be fooled. a lot of the salads at fast food places are worse for you than the burgers. they just load em up with cheese and dressing to the point where they're actually pretty bad. maybe not as processed, but still fattening.

heatheraloo

My salad comes without dressing. I add it in myself. There's no cheese either... unless its secrect invisible cheese... you never know! But definately not worse than french fries. Those are like cancer sticks in their own form....

.....But I love them all the same...ahh... fries... Mm..

Dulcinea

Man you boys are SMALL! I'm always on my husbands case to put on some pounds cuz he's only at 130-135lbs... I think he'd look a lot better at 145-150... I didn't realise there were so many others that were so scrawny!

DJ Tranzit

I used to be at that 130-135 mark.
Now that I'm a good 160, and the same height, I look back on pictures and I looked like a bone rack.

Troile

Sometimes its hard to put on weight.

That is a main reason why I started going to the gym. I'm 150 now, and if I am gaining weight then I'm doing it slowly.