Can What We Drink Make Us Overweight?

Over the past two decades, obesity has escalated to epidemic proportions in the United States and many countries around the world.  More than one billion adults throughout the world are overweight.  Here in the United States, 129.6 million persons (64% of the population) aged 20-74 years are overweight, and 30% of those (38.9 million) are obese.  This obesity epidemic is also seen in children and adolescents.  The reason this concerns health professionals is because being excess weight and obesity are associated with high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.

In our country there is an increase in rates of obesity with consumption of carbohydrates, especially in the form of added sugars.  Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, particularly carbonated soft drinks, is a key contributor to our country's obesity problem because of their high sugar content.  In fact, the increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the prevailing sweetener used to flavor calorically sweetened beverages in our country, has been found to mirror the growth of the obesity epidemic.  

A 12-oz can of soda provides approximately 40-50 g of sugar in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, which is equivalent to 10 teaspoons of table sugar.  One soda per day could lead to a weight gain of 15 lb. in a single year.  The consumption of fructose-sweetened beverages increases fat tissue more than either sucrose-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages.  This is important because most soft drinks in our country are sweetened with HFCS.  HFCS is rapidly absorbable, and therefore is particularly apt to cause wight gain and type-2 diabetes.  It also significantly increases inflammation in the human body.  In addition, most sodas contain phosphate.  Increased phosphate in the diet can cause bone mineral density loss and bone fracture.  Fruit juices, which are consumed in great quantities by young children, are linked to childhood obesity. 

In close, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda and fruit drinks should be discouraged as much as possible.  It may be time to change the proverbial saying from "you are what you eat" to "you are what you drink".