You know that old expression "you are what you eat?"
It turns out it may not be entirely accurate.
New research appears to show you are what you drink. And if what you drink is sugar-laden beverages, chances are what you'll be is overweight.
Experts at Johns Hopkins University believe the kind of liquid you take in has far more effect on your weight than anything else in your diet. And those who gave up things like soft drinks or other sweet beverages experienced a significant loss of pounds, despite their calorie intake.
Researchers followed 810 adults between the ages of 25 and 29 in a carefully controlled 18-month study. They measured what they ate and what they drank, taking updated readings at the 6-month point in the study and again at the end.
The results were telling.
"A reduction in liquid calorie intake was associated with a weight loss of 0.25 kg at 6 months and 0.24 kg at 18 months," reveals study author Dr. Benjamin Caballero.
"Among sugar-sweetened beverages, a reduction of one serving was associated with a weight loss of 0.5 kg at 6 months and 0.7 kg at 18 months. Of the seven types of beverages examined, sugar-sweetened beverages were the only beverages significantly associated with weight change."
And it didn't take much to make a difference. A reduction of just one daily serving led to one pound of weight loss after six months. That may not seem like a lot, but it all adds up.
"When you look on the bottle it gives you the calories and the sugar per serving," notes dietician Fran Berkoff, holding some cream soda. "But a serving is 250 ml. And you flip it over and you see this bottle is actually 591 ml, so this would be at least a little bit more than two servings.
"And it would be really easy to drink the whole thing. So ... that's a lot of sugar and it gets to be a lot of calories."
What kind of drinks were they looking at? They were divided into several categories:
Sugar-Sweetened
Soft drinks, fruit drinks, fruit punch, or anything sweetened with sugar
Diet drinks
Anything using artificial sweeteners
Milk
Whole milk,
2 percent reduced-fat,
1 percent low-fat,
Skim.
100 Percent Juice
Also included vegetable juices. No extra sugars added.
Hot Drinks
Coffee and Tea (with and without sugar)
Alcoholic beverages
Various types
In the end, those sugar-laden drinks were the most responsible for adding weight, no matter what else people ate.
What are the best choices? "If you have a glass of milk, you're getting calories but you're also getting vitamin D and calcium and B vitamins and lots of good stuff - even potassium," Berkoff explains.
Still, she doesn't think you have to swear off the sweet stuff for good in exchange for a trim figure. "To have a little bit of the sugar in your diet is not a bad thing at all, but what you don't need is the extra excess sugar that all it's doing is providing extra calories that are unnecessary for you."
How can you tell how much sugar you're taking in when you open that can of pop?
You can find all the caloric contents of your favourite soft drinks here.
And for ways to substitute high sugar drinks in your diet for something better,
click here.