Sweet beverages lead to childhood obesity

Replacing sugar-laden drinks with water has a dramatic impact on the amount of calories kids consume and may help in the fight against childhood obesity. Since children consume a large amount of these empty calories nowadays (10 to 15 percent of their daily intake), substituting calorie-free beverages would be a simple and effective way of eliminating the excess calories while improving the diet quality.Researchers from United Kingdom studied 3098 children and adolescents, between the age of 2 and 19 years, to estimate the calorie impact from replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with alternatives. The data about the dietary intake of the participants was collected.It was found that substituting sugar-sweetened beverages with water was associated with significant reductions in the total calories consumed. Each 1 percent drop in sugar-sweetened drinks was associated with a 6.6 percent drop in calories consumed, and this reduction was not filled by increase in other food or beverages. Replacing all sugary drinks with water could cut out an average of 235 calories out of the diet of children.When sugar-sweetened beverages are substituted with water, there is a significant decline in total energy intake without any compensatory increase in the consumption of other beverages or food. Sugar-sweetened beverages should be viewed as treats, not necessities, and water would be a perfect substitute for the purpose of thirst quenching.It was concluded that replacing these liquid calories with calorie-free beverage alternatives therefore represents a key strategy to eliminate excess calories and to prevent obesity in childhood.