Sugar Drinks Rapidly Converted Into Body Fat, Study Shows

San Diego, CA – February 26, 2002 Researchers at the North American Association for the Study of Obesity's (NAASO) annual meeting held at the First Annual Nutrition Week present exciting findings which reveal why sugar-filled drinks may contribute to the obesity epidemic. Dr. Louis Aronne, Chairman of NAASO's Public Affairs Committee notes "It brings into question the wisdom of super-sizing your soft drink."

Professor Arne Astrup and his colleagues from The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark designed a study to compare the effect of 10 weeks of supplementation with sucrose to 10 weeks of supplementation with an artificial sweetener of self-selected food intake and body weight. Forty overweight men and women were assigned at random to either sucrose or artificial sweetener supplementation, mostly from beverages. (Sucrose is ordinary table sugar and is found in soft drinks, other sweetened beverages and many foods.) The volunteers did not know whether they were receiving the real or artificial sugar.

After 10 weeks, the people in the sucrose group had gained an average of 3.5 pounds, most of which was due to an increase in body fat mass (2.9 pounds), because they consumed more than 1000 extra calories per day. The additional sucrose intake which caused the volunteers to gain weight was also associated with increased in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In contrast, the people in the artificial sweetener group lost an average of 2.2 pounds and their blood pressure was lowered. The investigators concluded that the availability of large amounts of sugar drinks increased the number of calories people consumed, leading to weight gain and detrimental health effects.

"This study shows that a diet containing too much sugar can quickly cause weight gain, and the complications associated with weight gain," notes Dr. Aronne of NAASO. These results are relevant to the alarming increase in obesity in youth, as government reports indicate that teens may consume 500-1000 calories daily in the form of soft drinks. The number of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970's. According to the most recent results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), about 61% of U.S. adults are either overweight of obese.

The North American Society for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) is a leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity. NAASO is committed to encouraging research on the causes, treatment and prevention of obesity and to keeping the scientific community and public informed of new advances in the field.