Sugary Drinks and Weight Gain

Comment:

There has been growing concern over sugar sweetened beverages and weight gain, these three studies set out to see if this was a plausible worry. By looking at the relationship between sugary drinks and body weight in different ways they came up with varying results to support the hypothesis. 

Research:

For a while now there have been growing concerns over the impact that sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) have on body weight. To see if there is a case in the argument that SSB cause weight gain three studies have been carried out. 

The first study looked at children aged between 9-13 in London, it looked at the consumption rates of SSB for the children and found that boys consumed 10% and girls 9% of their daily energy from SSB and that many children had higher levels than the targets. The study concluded that there was a relationship between SSB consumption and energy levels but not with weight. 

The second study looked at what the consumption of SSB aged 13 had on the body 24-30 years later. This study found that for men extra consumption of SSB at age 13 was associated with a small increase in weight in later years, but not relationship was found for women. 

The third study took a different approach and looked at what a reduction in consumption of SSB could do for weight loss, although there were reductions observed when looking at a baseline of people who were obese the results were inconclusive. 

Original article can be found here: http://www.nutrition-communications.co.uk/news_detail.php?news_id=350