SODA Making you Fat?

Stolen article from CNN.com


I'd just like to comment personally and I can almost guarntee that MOST of my weight I've gained has been from Sodas, I've been grabbing 2-3 20oz's a day just during work, along with lunch. I realized I've put on about 15lbs in the past 6 months or so and was stumped for the longest time as to why there was such a dramatic increase, and now this makes things alot more clear in my head. Fucking Pepsi.


(CNN) -- If you're searching for a villain in America's obesity epidemic, most nutritionists tell you to put one picture on the wanted poster: a cold, bubbly glass of soda pop.


Full of sugar, soda adds calories without making a person feel full, nutritionists say.

"Liquid candy" to detractors, sweetened soft drinks are so ubiquitous that they contribute about 10 percent of the calories in the American diet, according to government data.

In fact, said Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist whose 2001 paper in the Lancet is widely cited by obesity researchers, sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain.

"Highly concentrated starches and sugars promote overeating, and the granddaddy of them all is sugar-sweetened beverages," said Ludwig, who runs the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.

The rise in soft drink consumption mirrors the national march toward obesity. At the midpoint of the 20th century, Americans drank four times as much milk as soda pop. Today, the ratio is almost completely reversed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, in the past 30 years the national obesity rate has more than doubled, and among teenagers, more than tripled, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Soda pop is a quintessential junk food," said Michael Jacobson, who heads the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which lobbies for government restrictions on foods it considers unhealthy. "It's just pure calories, and no nutrients. It's like a bomb in our diet."

Jacobson said the CSPI is pushing to require obesity warning labels on the sides of soda cans, like the surgeon general's warning on cigarettes.

While nutritionists are united in their dislike for nondiet soda, the "why" is controversial.

Some point a finger at high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, the sweetener used in most nondiet drinks. Last month, researchers at Rutgers University said they'd identified compounds in HFCS which may start a chemical chain reaction, leading to diabetes.

Most scientists, though, say there's little difference between HFCS and simple sugar, either in chemistry or the way they're handled by the body.

A bigger problem, doctors say, is simply the sheer number of calories. You'll find about 400 calories in a 32-ounce "extra-large" Coke, a fast-food staple. That's nearly a quarter of what the average adult woman needs in a whole day.

If you eat a big burger, the level of ghrelin drops for a few hours. That drop doesn't happen if you drink a Big Gulp soda, even if it has more calories than the burger, according to Wayne Campbell, a professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition at Purdue University.

"We're finding your hunger does not go down as far when you consume a beverage, as when you consume a solid," Campbell said. The result: Even with 400 liquid calories in your stomach, you polish off the burger too.

Campbell cautioned that the ghrelin theory isn't proven and that other factors -- such as a food's smell, or the sensation of chewing -- may affect appetite just as much, or even more. Our expectations also play a role.

"Soup is the anomaly to the liquid calorie research," he said. "People perceive soup as a meal, unlike drinking a Coke. So when we've done these types of studies, but used soup as the liquid, we don't see the same differences in [appetite] response."

"It's rapidly absorbed, which raises blood sugar and in effect causes the body to panic." The body releases insulin to break down the sugar, "but the body overcompensates, and blood sugar drops below the fasting level," lower than it was in the first place.

Recognizing low blood sugar, the body releases ghrelin and other hormones, inducing hunger, inducing us to eat even more, Ludwig said.

The public is catching on, he said.

"In our obesity clinic, we used to routinely see patients coming in who were drinking four or five soft drinks a day. Now it's rare. That seems to be the first factor that comes to mind, when people are trying to lose weight."

Soft drink companies, under fire, are taking steps including a pledge last year to phase out nondiet soft drinks from America's schools.

A progress report issued Monday by the American Beverage Association said that shipments to schools of sweetened soda are down 45 percent since 2004, while shipments of bottled water are up 23 percent.


"There's no question the changes that are happening in schools are a mirror of what's happening in the larger marketplace," said Susan Neely, the ABA's president & CEO. "Adults, like kids, are reaching for lower-calorie beverages. ... As a consumer product company, we want to give consumers what they want."

While fighting obesity is complicated, Ludwig said, the first step is clear. "Giving up sugary soda for diet drinks, or water, will cause you to lose weight."

I try to stay away from soda. I used to drink a couple cans a day, now I probably drink a can a week. Pretty harmful stuff. I try to drink nothing but water.

Yeah i'm slowly getting back towards it. Since I haven't really played any sports in what seems like forever, and been kinda loafing working all the time just sitting around i've gained some weight, time to get it back off to how I used to be, down to just one soda a day this week, hopefully try and limit it to weekends or something by next week then completely off of it by the week after..

I notice myself going in waves, I used to drink 1-2 a day, then I'd drink nothing but water for a month, and get back into the habit of drinking soda. I save more money with water, though, since water is free here at work(not from the tap, but actual bottled water and water jugs.)

Heh, this is probably a large contributor to my weight gain after High School, I drink soda like a fiend.

I think I might try a month without soda and see what happens.

Whenever I go for a while of Cold Turkey from no soda I get withdrawl headaches and random muscle aches, soda = a damn drug,.

I think that may be the caffeine.....

Same thing happens with coffee. I think you've solved it, thanatos!

I drink milk and water all week long, then diet coke with alcohol on the weekends. But i dont gain weight from soda because there is 0 calories and 0 carbs.

He said soda was a drug, but caffeine is the drug...

I AM CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. BOW DOWN.

No, coffee is a drug dumbass.

I know Caffiene is the reason, but soda has more sugar so it's tecnhically worse for your body.

Eh, that's debatable. Caffeine is what makes it classified as a drug, just because it's addictive.

I used to go through soda like water, but now I just drink water, gatorade, tea, or juice when it is around. Gatorade mix is so good. The good thing about the cafeteria here is that they have 4 juices in the morning, always have milk, and powerade at lunch if you want.

I try not to even drink gatorade at all anymore, it's just sugarwater, not really good for you, doesn't give u "energy" .. if anything powerade is better on that platform, but just sticking to water is the best choice imo.

Of course soda makes you fat. I'll drink the shit regardless. I like it. But I drink water and juices too.

I do my best not to drink soda these days. I stick to coffee and water, for the most part.

I guess I just don't care about what soda does to a person. Probably a bad way to be, but meh.

Pop gives you much unneeded caffeine. It's bad for you.

If you can't drinking sodas then you're a weak person =x.