Why Soft Drinks Are So Fattening

Carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories
in the North American diet, accounting for about 7 percent of
our daily calories. According to the Center for Science in the
Public Interest, teenagers get 13 percent of their calories from
soft drinks. The average American drinks upward of 50 gallons
of soft drinks annually!
Apart from their water content, soft drinks are mainly
refined sugar. Teens suck down the equivalent of 15 teaspoons
of refined sugar daily in sodas. That’s about the top end of the
carbohydrate limit that experts recommend for all foods combined
in a day!
Soft drinks have been named as one of the leading causes of
overweight and obesity—along with Type 2 diabetes and other
weight-related illnesses. They contain high-fructose corn
syrup (HFCS), which is toxic to the body, in particular the
liver. HFCS also causes profound fat accumulation and weight
gain. This inexpensive sweetener is dumped into soft drinks
and is added to literally thousands of foods, from cookies and
jams to supersized muffins.
It’s not merely the extra calories that make it such a nutritional
nightmare. There’s evidence that high-fructose corn
syrup acts differently in the body than regular sugar and may
increase the risk of serious diseases. HFCS also causes a rise
in triglycerides, the blood fats that have been linked to heart

disease. Animal studies indicate that a high-fructose diet can
trigger insulin resistance and excess levels of insulin. Even
without these dangers, the extra calories alone are a good
enough reason to avoid it.
In 1970, the average adult ate about half a pound of HFCS a
year. Now that’s risen to about 70 pounds! Kids—with smaller
bodies and a big thirst for sweets—chug down even more. It’s
not only the sugar that makes sodas a problem, but also what
they replace in kids’ diets. Children used to drink a lot more
milk than soda. In the mid-1990s, the balance turned and children
were drinking twice as much soda as milk. At the same
time, they began getting lower amounts of vitamins and minerals
in their diet.

Want to lose weight without trying? Give up (or cut back)
the soft drinks. At 140 calories per 12-ounce serving, you
could easily lose half a pound a week (or more) by simply
switching to water, ice tea, or carbonated seltzer from the soft
drink fountain with just a dash of Sprite, 7-Up, or lemonade
added for flavor. Here are some other tips:
■ Read food labels and limit your consumption of any beverages
or foods that list HFCS as one of the first three or four
ingredients.
■ Since corn syrup is the main ingredient in sodas, cutting
back on them will make losing weight much easier. Try to
substitute seltzer or sparkling water with a squeeze of
lemon every once in a while (or more often, if you can).
■ Go for smaller drink sizes. Those Big Gulp cups are
belly-busters—and a sure path to diabetes. If you must have
bigger sized drinks, fill a Big Gulp cup halfway with club
soda or seltzer from the soda fountain and the other half
with your favorite soft drink. You’ll be cutting your calories
by 50 percent.