2008 Woodie Awards
Passing the soda packs on the pounds
Anthony Calabro '08
Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: Features
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It is no secret that our nation's waistlines are expanding. But the problem with obesity may not just include what's on our plate, according to experts.
With so much emphasis on the foods we eat and should avoid, and on the diets we've tried and tested, it is easy to forget that what's in our glasses is just as important. Researchers say that what we drink also plays a major role in our diet and is a contributing factor in obesity.
One of the biggest culprits?
Soda.
In a report by Yale University researchers published in this month's edition of the American Journal of Public Health, people who consume soft drinks do not appear to compensate by reducing calories elsewhere in their diets. This causes those people to add on extra pounds. In fact, the Yale study found that soda drinkers consume more calories in a typical day than non-soda drinkers.
Studies have shown that soda has no nutritional value, and if consumed to excess, can lead to many diseases, including obesity, which itself is linked to heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and many other health problems.
Kate Foley, '08, is an avid Diet Pepsi drinker.
"I drink diet because I don't like the taste of the regular kind, and I feel like it's better for me because it says 'diet' on it," Foley said.
If there is no value in drinking soda or even diet soda, why are we such a soda-crazed nation?
Because our bodies crave it, said Sally Black, Ph.D, assistant professor of health services at Saint Joseph's University.
"There are some biological factors that explain our reliance, such as caffeine providing an addictive component, and sugars increasing endorphins to make us 'feel good,'" Black said. "Combine the biological with marketing gimmicks, brand imprinting in schools, and the low cost of soda, and it pretty much explains why and how we became junkies."
The average American teenage male consumes two cups of sugar a week through soda alone, Black said, and the average American teenage female consumes the same amount in one and a half weeks.
With so much emphasis on the foods we eat and should avoid, and on the diets we've tried and tested, it is easy to forget that what's in our glasses is just as important. Researchers say that what we drink also plays a major role in our diet and is a contributing factor in obesity.
One of the biggest culprits?
Soda.
In a report by Yale University researchers published in this month's edition of the American Journal of Public Health, people who consume soft drinks do not appear to compensate by reducing calories elsewhere in their diets. This causes those people to add on extra pounds. In fact, the Yale study found that soda drinkers consume more calories in a typical day than non-soda drinkers.
Studies have shown that soda has no nutritional value, and if consumed to excess, can lead to many diseases, including obesity, which itself is linked to heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and many other health problems.
Kate Foley, '08, is an avid Diet Pepsi drinker.
"I drink diet because I don't like the taste of the regular kind, and I feel like it's better for me because it says 'diet' on it," Foley said.
If there is no value in drinking soda or even diet soda, why are we such a soda-crazed nation?
Because our bodies crave it, said Sally Black, Ph.D, assistant professor of health services at Saint Joseph's University.
"There are some biological factors that explain our reliance, such as caffeine providing an addictive component, and sugars increasing endorphins to make us 'feel good,'" Black said. "Combine the biological with marketing gimmicks, brand imprinting in schools, and the low cost of soda, and it pretty much explains why and how we became junkies."
The average American teenage male consumes two cups of sugar a week through soda alone, Black said, and the average American teenage female consumes the same amount in one and a half weeks.
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