“Sugary beverages have been linked to obesity for many years,” says Dr. David Ludwig, co-author of the study and Director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston’s Children Hospital.
In an original study featured in The Lancet in 2001, Dr. Ludwig found that every additional serving of sugary beverages increased the risk of obesity by 60 percent. This most recent four-year study was their follow-up. It featured 224 randomly chosen obese teenagers who were habitual soft drink users. After two years with a control group who continued their soft drink use and an intervention group who switched to non-sugary beverages like water, researchers found that, “Hispanics gained 14 pounds less [in their soft drink reduction group],” says Dr. Ludwig who notes, “That’s a big difference.”
