New research powerfully strengthens the case against soda and other sugary drinks as culprits in the obesity epidemic.
A decades-long study involving more than 33,000 Americans has yielded the first clear proof that drinking sugary beverages interacts with genes that affect weight, amplifying a person’s risk of obesity beyond what it would be from heredity alone.
This means that such drinks are especially harmful to people with genes that predispose them to weight gain. And most of us have at least some of these genes.
In addition, two other major experiments have found that giving children and teens calorie-free alternatives leads to less weight gain.
Collectively, the results strongly suggest that sugary drinks cause people to pack on the pounds, independent of other unhealthy behavior such as overeating and getting too little exercise, scientists say.
Soda lovers do get some good news: Sugar-free drinks did not raise the risk of obesity in these studies.
The studies were presented Friday at an obesity conference in San Antonio and were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. The Associated Press
