Sugary Beverages Are Packing On The Pounds, New Scientific Review Finds

For the past four decades, Americans have been gulping or guzzling their way to weight gain by choosing sugar-sweetened beverages, concludes an important scientific review published Tuesday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Specifically, one extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a year, and the "weight of evidence" strongly suggests that this habit is a key reason that more Americans have been becoming overweight or obese, found the researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.

"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, head researcher for the new report, which also found that almost one-third of all carbohydrate calories in the American diet come from added sweeteners, with drinks accounting for half of this amount.

Well, we’ve certainly heard before from other studies that soda can pack on the pounds, but this new report from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health seems unparalleled in scope and depth.

First off, it reviewed 40 years of nutrition studies, which were selected on the basis of their scientific merit and relevance. Furthermore, the review was funded both by the federal government and the American Heart Association.

As can be expected, the American Beverage Assocation — which used to be more appropriately called the National Soft Drink Association — had a rebuttal prepared. 

"Blaming one specific product or ingredient as the root cause of obesity defies common sense," said a statement from the ABA’s senior science consultant Richard Adamson. "Instead, there are many contributing factors, including regular physical activity."

Not to sound undignified, but phoeey!

Drinking soda and other sugary drinks in abundance — especially since they contain high fructose corn syrup (which studies show is processed differently in our bodies) — can lead to weight gain.

All we have to do is look at the obvious facts, which is what this landmark review did.

Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, told AP that blaming other factors for obesity 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 told reporters.

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."

Thank you, Dr. Ludwig and Dr. Hu, for stating the case so succinctly.

Maybe people will listen more to experts’ warnings. Let’s face it, sugary soda and other high-fructose-laden-drinks add NO nutritive value to people’s diets. So what’s the point of drinking them if doing so means you’ll gain weight and possibly develop other health problems?

Need help kicking sweets? Join my free, online KickSugar support group, which, at present has 1500-plus members from around the world.

Thanks to MSNBC and CNN for help on this story.