Sugar-sweetened beverages, milk intake, and obesity in children and adolescents
US researchers studied more than 2,000 girls for 10 years from the age of 9. This was part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. They found that the girls’ regular soft drink consumption rose 2-3 fold in that time and with it, their BMI.
They concluded that “public health efforts are needed to help adolescents gain access to and choose healthful beverages and decrease intake of beverages of minimal nutritional value.”
An accompanying editorial adds that this research is cause for action.
Read the editorial Journal of Pediatrics. 2006; 148: 152-4
Read the study: Journal of Pediatrics. 2006; 148: 183-7