A new review of available research pinpoints exactly how much soft drinks and other sugary beverages contribute to weight gain and obesity in the United States. Just one extra can each day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year.
The review of 30 nutritional studies conducted over the past four decades also revealed a number of other facts, including:
- Soft drinks contribute about half of the additional sweeteners in the average American diet, and that amounts to a third of all carbohydrate calories consumed.
- Limiting a child's intake of soft drinks over a year lowered his or her risks of obesity.
- Consuming more sugary drinks led to higher weight gains and greater obesity risks.
A nutritionist commenting on the review noted that satiety studies show that people do not compensate for calories from beverages by consuming less food. As a result, when caloric beverages are consumed, those calories are simply added on top of the rest of the total daily caloric intake.