By Shannon Pettypiece - 2012-09-21T20:00:00Z
Sugary soda may worsen the effect of genes that put people at risk for obesity, according to one of several studies reported today on how the drinks affect weight gain.
People genetically predisposed to obesity were more likely to gain weight from the beverages than those without the traits, according to the study, published today in a New England Journal of Medicine theme issue. Other research showed that switching to a diet soda from a sugary one may help kids control weight gain.
One in three adults and 17 percent of children are obese in the U.S. Sugary beverages are the largest single caloric food source in the nation, according to an editorial that accompanied the studies. This month, New York City limited the cup size that restaurants can use for sugary drinks, and schools across the country have banned the beverages.
It is important to begin to create publishable studies to support what everyone knows, said Steven Safyer, chief executive officer of Montefiore Medical Center in New York, who has worked to curb obesity in the city. We are in the eighth inning of the worst public health crisis that we have encountered in decades.
Obesity costs the country about $147 billion a year in health-care expenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the country stays on the current course, it could increase the health costs by $66 billion a year by 2030, according to a report earlier this week by the Trust for Americas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Safyer said soda is particularly harmful when it comes to obesity because it doesnt make people feel full, eliminating the normal triggers that stop people from eating.
To look at the connection between genetic risk and obesity, researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health analyzed databases of more than 30,000 people to compare their consumption of sugary drinks with their genetic predisposition for becoming obese. Risk was based on mutations to 32 genes associated with body mass index.
A person is considered obese when their BMI is 30 or greater, which would be 215 pounds for someone five feet, 11 inches tall.
The obesity risk for those who drank more than one sugary drink a day was about twice as high as those who had less than one serving a month, said Lu Qi, an assistant professor at the Harvard school in Boston and the senior author on the study.
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Sugary Drinks Linked to Increased Genetic Risk of Obesity