The Skinny on Soda Pop With Respect to Weight
To reach optimum weight overall nutrition is important. And the American classic drink: ‘a pop ‘ is also an example of calories empty of nutrition. And since half of all Americans consume soda daily, we feel obliged to give you the skinny on why you need to move that pop to the guilty pleasure list rather than have it be a daily food group! So what’s the skinny on soda pop with respect to our weight.
1. Soda pop is not just ’empty’ of nutrition, but may contribute to weight gain, weight retention, and the overall rates of obesity.
2. Pops with caffeine has some benefits from the caffeine. But sodas have chemicals and phosphorus to make it fizzy, in addition to sugars or sweeteners. In other studies caffeine is viewed as a health risk.
3. The research on soda pop is not always clear. Because many studies link sweetened sugary juice beverages in with sweetened sugary pop. The newest study focuses on “sugar content”. Check back with your nutritionists to keep tabs on new guidelines. When looking at caffeine data alone, the studies, including studies on miscarriages, link carbonated sodas with teas and coffees, and the salt consumption literature includes many other confounding factors.
4. The skinny on these very sugary beverages is they contribute to obesity. In addition studies prove sugary beverages also contribute to obesity related deaths. It was a headline in CNN, on today, March 20th 2013. In their study sugar-sweetened beverages are linked “This means about one in every 100 deaths from obesity-related diseases is caused by drinking sugary beverages,” says study author Gitanjali Singh, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, and the United States ranked as one of the most obese, and thus one of the countries with the most sugary beverage related illnesses and death. However, the American Beverage Association dismissed the research in this CNN report, as they have in the past, as “more about sensationalism than science.” And nutritionists at Women’s Health Practice caution that it’s important to understand there are healthier beverages than pop, and we hope to help you understand why some may be healthier than others, and some may lead to more successful dieting than others.
5. New York City tried to ban large size sodas, it didn’t work.
6. Researchers at Harvard in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, which looks at the health and mortality of populations across the world and tried to control for TV watching, changes in physical activity levels, smoking and the consumption of all kinds of food and drink. When the researchers controlled for these factors, they were able to determine what percentage of deaths from diabetes, heart disease and cancer were linked to sugary drinks. “The investigators examined changes in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and then its association with change in body fatness or BMI (body mass index), and subsequent deaths from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer,” says Rachel Johnson, professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington and chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee, who was not involved in the study.
7. The issue is still why is soda itself a problem. One issue is we drink too much before our body tells us to stop. The body does not seem to detect fullness as well when you drink sugary drinks as other healthier foods and drink. And your stomach may not be able to recognize the difference between that very sweet tasting diet pop vs non-diet pop either! Recently the American Heart Association came out with a scientific statement about sugar intake and heart health because it says there is new evidence about the relationship between the two. In fact their site has excellent resources on pop consumption. The statement says some research has found a link between sugar consumption and cardiovascular disease, while other research has not found a direct link.
.8. Another issue is that we tend to forget liquid calories. Be sure when calorie counting, count your drinks in with your carbs! The AHA says that the best way to maintain a healthy weight and to decrease the risk of heart disease is to eat a healthy diet and to limit added sugar to no more than 100 calories a day for women and 150 for men (25 g of carbs total, so watch the overall carbs too!). Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of added sugars in the American diet, according to the statement. One 12-ounce regular soda contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar and has about 140 calories. So if you really want to be a bit skinnier, or just continue to be just this skinny, rethink that pop you are reaching for! And that is the skinny on soda consumption.
9. In a new study of postmenopausal women,, those who drink 3 or fewer sugar-sweetened beverages per month have lower rates of liver cancer and lower rates of death from chronic liver disease in comparison to those with drink one or more of these drinks per day.
