Report Says Sugary Drinks Pile on Pounds
August 9, 2006
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.
"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.
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.
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.
Yet this argument resurfaces with regard to obesity," Ludwig said.
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.
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.
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.
- Summarized from: Report says sugary drinks pile on the pounds, AP, via the Washington Post, Aug. 9, 2006
