Are BFY reduced sugar soft drinks worsening the obesity epidemic?

BETTER FOR YOU (BFY) reduced-sugar soft drinks may be considered a godsend by both individual dieters and public health institutions as a key tool for controlling the global obesity epidemic, but, as ever, things are not so clear-cut. Euromonitor International looks at the emerging debate, which seeks to blame reduced sugar carbonates for rising obesity rather than viewing them as a solution to the problem.

Common sense dictates that if an overweight person, whose weight is stable, swaps his/her daily intake of two cans of a regular carbonated soft drink - or almost 300kcal - with calorie-free version, this will result in slow, but steady weight loss as long as all other parameters (diet, exercise) remain unchanged. Vice versa, if a person adds extra calories to his/her diet through the consumption of soft drinks, weight gain is the likely result.
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Driven by this rationale, BFY reduced sugar soft drinks are on a global victory march, further propelled by ever-improving concoctions of artificial sweeteners, giving rise to good tasting low-calorie products that are barely distinguishable from their high-calorie counterparts.

Not an exact science

However, evidence linking consumption of standard soft drinks with excess body weight and confirming low-calorie drinks' positive impact on weight management is by no means conclusive.

On the one hand, a growing body of research suggesting that low-calorie, artificially sweetened carbonates may not be conducive to combating obesity is starting to emerge. These hypotheses usually centre on the assumption that artificial sweeteners prime the body into expecting calories and trigger intense cravings for food and sweet drinks, causing people to overeat.

On the other, any apparent correlation between BFY reduced sugar soft drinks consumption and being overweight could well be explained by the very human behaviour of people trying to compensate for their excessive food intake by consuming such drinks - such as overweight individuals who order a high-calorie, "super-sized" fast food meal accompanied by a diet drink. This scenario, where diet drinks serve as a damage limitation measure, rather than forming part of a conscious effort to lose weight, is likely to be a common one (and possibly warranting further investigation), followed by strategies effecting behavioural change.

Reduced sugar carbonates here to stay

All things considered, diet drinks are unlikely to ever emerge as an undisputed culprit in the line up of obesity-causing agents. At worst, they may be blamed for indulging the rosy self-deception that they "cancel out" excess calories consumed through food, and helping to perpetuate an environment conducive to over-consumption.

For the average consumer, unless presented with the highly unlikely, solid proof that artificial sweeteners are damaging to health, this public-health-oriented argument focused on the "obesogenic environment" will have little impact on individual consumption patterns, and diet sodas will continue to be regarded as a palatable and convenient substitute for high-calorie soft drinks.