One recent independent peer-reviewed study demonstrates a strong link between soda pop consumption and childhood obesity.
Explanations of the mechanism through which soda pop may lead to obesity have not been proven yet, although the evidence for them is strong.
Many people have long assumed that soda, high in sugar and calories and low in nutrients, can make children fat. But this study provides solid, scientific evidence demonstrating this.
Reporting in 'The Lancet', a British medical journal, a team of Harvard researchers presented the first evidence linking soda pop consumption to childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soda pop regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't. For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soda pop consumed during the nearly 2-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.
Obesity experts called the Harvard study findings important and praised the study for being prospective. The Harvard researchers spent 19 months following the children, rather than just capturing a snapshot of data from only a single day. It is considered statistically more significant to conduct a study over a long period of time.
Don’t count on diet sodas to lower your obesity risk.
People who drink diet soft drinks don't lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.
The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.
"What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity," Fowler tells WebMD. "What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher."
In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.
"There was a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says.
(1)Washington Post February 27, 2001; Page HE10
(2)"Artificial Sweeteners May Damage Diet Efforts.” Artificial Davidson, T.L. International Journal of Obesity, July 2004; vol 28: pp 933-955
