View Full Version : Soft Drinks Pile On The Pounds



Keith
08-08-2006, 06:00 PM
I guess I better stop having my three cokes a day and stick with Iced Tea:ohno: ...No way!

Report Says Sugary Drinks Pile on Pounds
Published Tuesday August 8, 2006 by The Associated Press
Americans have sipped and slurped 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 in a single year, and the "weight of 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," says a statement from the group's senior science consultant, Richard Adamson.

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.

The main sweetener in beverages - high-fructose corn syrup - contains slightly more fructose than ordinary table sugar. Some studies suggest that pure fructose fails to spur production of insulin, which is needed to "process" calories, or leptin, a substance that helps regulate appetite.

Industry scientists say this small difference in fructose content does not justify some nutrition experts' arguments that sweetened beverages are less satisfying.

Regardless of this debate, a single 12-ounce can of soda provides the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of table sugar, the Harvard review says.
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 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.

Patrick
08-08-2006, 06:41 PM
Go with Diet Coke. It doesn't taste that bad.

bandnerd
08-08-2006, 07:05 PM
How is this new news? We've been hearing about this for years. People are just dumb when it comes to counting calories and realizing that they are drinking their calories instead of eating them.

And Patrick--what do you think of the theory that artificial sweeteners present in Diet Coke and other drinks cause people to crave food so even if you choose a diet drink, you still consume more calories, hence all the overweight people drinking diet sodas? I read that somewhere recently.

I personally try to stay away from even the diet stuff as much as possible. A few times a week I might have one with my lunch or dinner. But usually just one. I NEVER drink the full-sugar stuff.

I stick to Crystal Light...they even have a kind now that has vitamins and kind of tastes like Tang, if you like that kind of stuff :D

OklaCity_75
08-08-2006, 07:46 PM
I have concluded that scientist have too much time on their hands.

Everyday something new study comes out about how something is making us sick and shortening our lifespan.

If only they could focus on the serious problems facing our society.

bandnerd
08-08-2006, 08:16 PM
You don't consider the biggest epidemic, obesity, to ever plague our nation...nay, our world...a serious problem?

Keith
08-08-2006, 08:48 PM
How is this new news? We've been hearing about this for years. People are just dumb when it comes to counting calories and realizing that they are drinking their calories instead of eating them.

And Patrick--what do you think of the theory that artificial sweeteners present in Diet Coke and other drinks cause people to crave food so even if you choose a diet drink, you still consume more calories, hence all the overweight people drinking diet sodas? I read that somewhere recently.

I personally try to stay away from even the diet stuff as much as possible. A few times a week I might have one with my lunch or dinner. But usually just one. I NEVER drink the full-sugar stuff.

I stick to Crystal Light...they even have a kind now that has vitamins and kind of tastes like Tang, if you like that kind of stuff :D
Yes, this is old news, however, you have people like me that enjoy drinking coke, so I thought I would post it. I really need to back off on the soft drinks, though.

Midtowner
08-08-2006, 08:48 PM
I think they should lead with another story about how hot it is. This is pretty old news, eh?

bandnerd
08-08-2006, 08:52 PM
Put a t-bone steak into a bowl of coke for a couple of days. You probably won't drink it anymore, Keith.

MadMonk
08-08-2006, 10:10 PM
But, you would have the same result from soaking a steak in orange juice. The key is everything in moderation.

I like various sodas, but I usually drink a diet version if available (Diet Dr. Pepper is the nectar of the Gods). :)

Concerning Crystal Light, isn't the sweetener in that stuff the same as in many diet sodas (Aspartame)?

mranderson
08-09-2006, 04:08 AM
I have been drinking Coke Zero. No calories and the taste is fine. An aquired taste, however, allright.

bandnerd
08-09-2006, 06:39 AM
Yes, the sweetener in Crystal light is the same as in some diet sodas. I don't personally believe the theory I asked Patrick about above. Anything that helps me get in my 64 oz of water, whether it be crystal light or diet decaffinated tea, I'll use.

Now, MadMonk, have you never received that email that gives all of Coke's uses? You can pour it down a clogged drain to remove buildup, use it to remove corrosion on your car battery, use it to clean the chrome of your car by rubbing foil soaked in coke onto the chrome, and many scary other things.

MadMonk
08-09-2006, 07:35 AM
Yeah, I've seen that email. Its an urban legend. Here is article on Snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp

Stinger
08-09-2006, 07:58 AM
No soda for me since 1995.

bandnerd
08-09-2006, 08:01 AM
Ah, never thought to look it up on snopes. I forget about that useful little website. I've been proven wrong ;) haha.

But it's got to be obvious that so much sugar is bad for us, especially the high fructose corn syrup. They've been yelling about that for years.

Patrick
08-09-2006, 06:36 PM
Nope, aspartame doesn't cause people to crave calories. It's simply a man-made sweetner. I did the research and didn't find one study on Pubmed backing up your theory.

Keith
08-09-2006, 08:06 PM
Yeah, I've seen that email. Its an urban legend. Here is article on Snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp
I don't know about that. The other day I was drinking a coke, and then poured it on my corroded battery cable...ate the acid right off.

bandnerd
08-09-2006, 08:53 PM
Thanks, Patrick. I've seen people on health message boards claim that theory but I haven't seen much on it.

The only things that make me crave food are alcohol and PMS lol. Bring on the chicken wings!

MadMonk
08-09-2006, 10:47 PM
I don't know about that. The other day I was drinking a coke, and then poured it on my corroded battery cable...ate the acid right off.
So your are trying to nutralize acid with another acid?

Sodium bicarbonate would have been a better choice - the same stuff you can ingest for heartburn, brush your teeth with and can be used as a leavening agent in some bread recipes. Ain't chemistry fun? :spin: