Each daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages associated with one lbs weight gain over 4 years

Subjects: 120,877 U.S. women and men

The findings are based on data from three large, long-term government-funded trials looking at diet, lifestyle and health in adults: the Nurses’ Health Study, which has tracked 121,701 women since 1976; the Nurses’ Health Study II, which has followed 116,686 women since 1989; and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which includes 51,529 men enrolled in 1986.

The new analysis involves 20 years of data on 120,877 men and women from these three cohorts. Researchers tracked changes in participants’ eating and lifestyle habits—and weight—every four years.

Average weight gain over 4 years: 3.4 lbs or 2.4%

The average 4-year weight gain in this study was 3.4 pounds or 2.4 percent of their body weight.

Comments from Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian

“For diet, conventional wisdom often recommends ‘everything in moderation,’ with a focus only on total calories consumed,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and lead author of the study.

“Our results demonstrate that the quality of the diet — the types of food and beverages that one consumes — is strongly linked to weight gain.”

“Small dietary and other lifestyle changes can together make a big difference — for bad or good,” says Mozaffarian.

“That makes it very easy to gradually gain weight unintentionally, but also means that a little bit of attention to a handful of dietary and other lifestyle changes can prevent this.”

Study’s Limitations: self-reported portion size, and were white, educated adults

The study limitations included that it relied on self-reported portion size and used different serving sizes between foods.

The study was also of mostly white, educated adults.

Other Research

Here are other articles about sugar-sweetened beverages that were published previously:

• Sugar-sweetened soda causes weight gain of 3.5 lbs vs weight loss of 2.2 lbs w/ artificial sweetener
• Each additional serving of sugar-sweetened drink increases risk of obesity in 12-year-olds by 60%
• One soda per day increases risk of overweight in adults by 27%, UCLA study found
• Americans consume 355 calories per day as added sugar, notes American Heart Association
• Calories from sweetened beverages plus milk increased calories by 278 per day from 1977 to 2001
• Eliminating one sugar-sweetened drink per day caused a weight loss of 1.1 pounds after six months
• One sugar-sweetened beverage per day increases the risk of heart attacks in women by 23%
• Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juice: 242 calories in 1994, 270 in 2004
• report
• Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juice in 2-5 year-olds in US: 176 calories
• Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juice in 6-11 year-olds in US: 229 calories
• Calories from sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juice in 12-19 year-olds in US: 356 calories
• Black college students consume 2X as many calories from sugary drinks as whites: 796 vs 396 calories
• 4.5-year-old children who consume sugar-sweetened beverages are twice as likely to be overweight
• Each additional serving of sugary drink per day increased the risk of obesity in 12-year-olds by 60%
• Children and adolescents get 7-13% of total calories from sodas and fruit juice
• Percent of total calories from sugary beverages doubled from 1977 to 2001 from 4.8% to 10.3%
• Replacing sweetened beverages with water reduces calorie intake by 200 calories per day
• Soft drinks increase calorie consumption
• Sucrose-sweetened vs high-fructose sweetened colas have the same effect on hunger
• Sugar-sweetened beverages have not significantly contributed to the obesity epidemic
• High sugar intake increases risk of pancreatic cancer by 51-93%
• Women gained an extra 10 pounds in four years by drinking a soda per day
• Each additional sugary beverage increase risk of obesity by 60%
• The increase in high-fructose corn syrup mirrors rise in obesity
• Those who drink soda are more likely to be overweight; 70% vs 47% in women, 77% vs 58% in men
• One 12 ounce soda per day could cause 15 lbs weight gain per year
• Soft drink consumption has increased 2.4-fold from 1977 to 2001
• Percent of calories from sweeteners has increased in the past twenty years from 13% to 16%
• Sugar-sweetened soft drinks may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer in women
• Mice who drank fructose-sweetened water gain 63% more than with sucrose-sweetened soft drink
• Sugar-sweetened drinks are associated with obesity in children
• High-fructose corn syrup in soft drinks may be responsible for obesity epidemic
• Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup making us fat?

REFERENCE

Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med. 2011 Jun 23, 364(25):2392-404.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH
665 Huntington Ave, Bldg. 2-319
Boston, MA 02115 USA
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Foods associated with higher and lower body weight

• Foods Associated with Weight Gain

• Soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, etc.)