Soft Drinks Linked to Weight Gain

12/03/07 Because they don't eat less, people who get extra "liquid calories" from soft drinks gain extra weight, an analysis of 88 soda studies suggests.

The finding comes from researchers at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. Study co-author Marlene B. Schwartz, Ph.D., is research director of the Rudd Center.

"We found quite a clear association between soft-drink intake and taking in more calories," Schwartz tells WebMD. "The most compelling studies showed that, on days when people drink soft drinks, they consumed more calories than on the days when they did not have soft drinks."

Why? Schwartz says the simplest explanation is that people don't compensate for the extra calories in sodas. A person who has a hamburger and a soda, for example, doesn't eat less of his or her hamburger, or fewer fries, than a person who washes the burger down with water.

Is lap banding the cure to obesity?

Obesity is killing Americans at an alarming rate and conventional dieting doesn't always work. In the last few years, "lap banding" has increased in popularity. Today is the first time lap banding has been done in Spokane.

Over 60 percent of people in the US are considered obese and the perception is unhealthy eating is the culprit. But for many - overeating is not the problem - it's genetics.

"Society would have us believing that all obese patients are lazy, dirty, eat a lot, don't exercise - that is absolutely not the case," says Dr. Lee Trotter, the first bariatric surgeon performing lap banding surgery in Spokane.

Dr. Lee Trotter is new to Spokane, but not new to the problem of obesity. As a bariatric surgeon - he's performed weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass and lap banding, which was approved by the FDA in 2001.

Looking in the brain for a clue to obesity

Obese people lose their ability to respond to a hormone that says "stop eating." A new study by Oregon researchers may explain how this happens and raises hopes that drugs could work around this communication breakdown.

The study identified what could be the broken link in a chain of biological signals connected to the hunger-limiting hormone leptin. An excess of a protein called SOCS-3 seems to drown out the messages leptin is sending like a noisy debater. Drugs that tap into this hunger-control system down the line from the disruptive protein may get the "lose weight" message moving again. Several companies are working on drugs that alter this hormone system, the melanocortin system.

This does not mean a super slimming drug is just around the corner. The drugs being developed could fail their tests and are years from the market at best.

Strong Evidence Links Soft Drink Consumption To Obesity, Diabetes

The case against swigging soda just got stronger. A large systematic review reveals clear associations between consumption of nondiet soft drinks and increased calorie intake and body weight.

Full-calorie soft drinks are also linked with reduced intake of milk and fruit and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. "Recommendations to reduce population soft drink consumption are strongly supported by the available science," concludes the review of 88 studies.

The American Beverage Association, however, presents a different view on its Web site. "It is not feasible to blame any one food product or beverage as being a sole contributor to obesity …. No science supports such a claim."

Carbonated soft drinks are the single largest source of calories in the American diet, according to a 2005 report called "Liquid Candy," produced by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

In Obesity, Brain Becomes 'Unaware' Of Fat

Critical portions of the brain in those who are obese don't really know they are overweight, researchers have reported in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. These findings in obese mice show that a sensor in the brain that normally detects a critical fat hormone - causing a cascade of events that keeps energy balance in check - fails to engage. Meanwhile, the rest of the metabolic pathway remains ready to respond.

"Obesity is not a failure of will power, it is a biological failure," said Michael Cowley of Oregon Health & Science University of his group's findings in the mice. "The brain is not aware that the body is obese."

If the same is true in humans, he added, people may be consciously aware that they are overweight, but "that's different from the homeostatic circuitry being aware."

The new results also bolster evidence that a suppressor called SOCS-3 may be responsible for the loss of sensitivity to the fat hormone known as leptin.