Dangerously Sweet

 CUTTING down on sweet, high caloric drinks can make you lose weight faster than by reducing solid calories. This is why in the age of high sugar intake and expanding waistlines, scientists are recommending adults to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption as a means to more efficiently accomplish weight loss or avoid excess weight gain.
Liquid calorie intake has a stronger impact on weight than solid calorie intake, and weight loss has been positively associated with a reduction in liquid calorie consumption, according to researchers who have examined the relationship between beverage consumption amongst adults and weight change. The study1 by scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School's Department of International Health showed that of the seven types of beverages examined, sugar-sweetened beverages were the only beverages significantly associated with weight change: a reduction of 1 serving was associated with a weight loss of 0.5kg at 6 months and 0.7kg at 18 months.
 Consumption of liquid calories from beverages has increased in parallel with the obesity epidemic. Earlier studies by Bloomberg School researchers, for instance, project that 75% of U.S. adults could be overweight or obese by 2015 and have linked the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to the obesity epidemic, which affects two-thirds of adults and increases the risk for adverse health conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Although no long-term studies have been conducted in the Middle East relating sugary drinks with obesity, it is well known that diseases related to overweight like diabetes and cardiovascular disease are prevalent. In the UAE, one out of five people aged 20 to 79 lives with diabetes, whilst a similar percentage of the population is at risk of developing it. Recent media reports show that CVD accounts for up to 28 per cent of all deaths in UAE, and projections to 2025 see spending on treatment, which now accounts for 12 per cent of the total medical costs, will double and grow at almost twice the overall rate of healthcare spending during the period.
High fructose corn syrup is often cited as one of a host of culprits leading to expanding waistlines worldwide. In many types of beverages, especially carbonated soft drinks, HCFS has replaced other sugars as the preferred sweetener.

The skinny on fructose
Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases abdominal fat and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese people,
according to molecular biologist Kimber Stanhope of the University of California at Davis.
About half the sweetness in a non-diet soda comes from fructose and half from glucose, and there are significant differences in how our bodies process and react to the two sugars. To understand how the two sugars are metabolised, Dr Stanhope created a series of experiments to tease out these differences.
In one 10-week study2, 32 older, overweight subjects spent two weeks in a UC Davis research clinic, eight weeks at home and two weeks back in the clinic – during which time she made sure the only sweetened drinks they consumed were specially made Kool-Aid laced with either fructose or glucose. Participants drank three glasses of Kool-Aid a day, which Dr Stanhope calculated would equal about 25% of their energy intake. Their urine was tested daily to make sure they drank the required dose.
The bookend stays in the more controlled environment reassured her that sugar would remain the primary variable in their lives. Dr Stanhope didn't want her results to be skewed by her subjects going out the night before a test and drinking three beers, running 10 miles, or fighting with their spouse – all of which might affect metabolism.
Her research suggests that the mechanismTienda outlet deportiva