Such an evisceration has the potential to be more troubling than sugar sweetened beverages.
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"Such an evisceration has the potential to be more troubling than sugar sweetened beverages, " he wrote.
Men consume on average 178 calories per day from sugar sweetened beverages and women consume 103 calories per day.
Sugar sweetened beverage consumption has increased significantly over the past several decades.
The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 450 calories from sugar sweetened beverages per week (the amount in three cans of cola).
Recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data found that half of the U.S. population consumes at least one sugar sweetened beverage on any given day.
We know from other research that heavy users are highly resistant to price changes, so if high consumers of sugar sweetened drinks are equally resistant, soda taxes will miss their intended targets.
The findings, just published in Public Health Nutrition, are a rebuff to an increasingly vocal campaign by a small group of public health academics to impose hefty taxes on sugar sweetened beverages in order to curb obesity.
These findings are not surprising in light of the growing body of evidence linking intake of sugar sweetened beverages -- of which soda makes up the largest percentage -- and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and high cholesterol.
Excess belly fat seems to be particularly harmful, most likely because of its effects on inflammation and its association with elevated insulin levels, so if you tend to be more "apple shaped" and carry extra weight in your belly, it is especially important to lose weight, exercise regularly, and limit refined grains, sugar sweetened beverages, and added sugar in your diet.
As the authors, Bremer et al., note in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Trends in US Adolescents and Their Association with Insulin Resistance-Related Parameters, (J Nutr Metab. 2010), teens who are low and medium soda drinkers consume considerably less sugar sweetened beverages than high consumers (an overall mean consumption between .05 and 2.5 servings per day respectively, compared to an overall mean of 7.1 servings, or 57 ounces per day).
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In November, voters in two California cities defeated ballot initiatives that would have imposed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.
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The team estimates that sugar-sweetened beverages were responsible for upwards of 184, 000 deaths around the world in 2010.
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The third trial Qi et al. examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and genetic predisposition to obesity.
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Mr. Friedman cited federal data that show calories from sugar-sweetened beverages are a small and declining part of the American diet.
Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of added sugars in the American diet, according to the statement.
That is one explanation for why sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with obesity.
"Advocating discriminatory policies that uniquely focus on sugar-sweetened beverages is the wrong approach, " the industry trade organization said in a statement.
The average consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico, the country with the highest death rates among larger nations, was 24 ounces per day.
Researchers at Harvard wanted to find out how often people around the globe drank sugar-sweetened beverages and how that affected their risk of death.
It should take a cue from its brethren in beer, and, indeed, from its own success in selling more water and fewer sugar-sweetened products.
The best path forward may be subject to debate between reasonable people, but the scientific data are not: sugar-sweetened beverages are a root cause of obesity.
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Late last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published three clinical studies evaluating the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on obesity in children, adolescents, and adults.
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"Even so, it is not definitive evidence that sugar-sweetened soft drinks increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, other than through their effect on body weight, " he added.
Pediatricians could be focusing on recommending less television viewing, for instance, and more physical activity, as well as advising parents to limit children's consumption of juices and sugar-sweetened beverages.
There is only limited evidence that taxes would help reduce obesity, the group said, adding that only 7% of the calories in the American diet come from sugar-sweetened beverages.
Although the exact mechanisms of how sugar-sweetened beverages contribute to obesity are not fully known, their link to obesity is stronger than that observed for any other food or beverage.
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In no way does it show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer - the real causes of death among the studied subjects.
Such a tax discriminates against the manufacturers, bottlers, retailers, and consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages, while leaving the pocketbooks of those who produce and consume other high calorie drinks and foods untouched.
Commenting on the results, Dr Matthew Hobbs, head of research at Diabetes UK, said the link between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and Type-2 diabetes persisted even when body mass index was taken into account.
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