Study: Beverage Consumption a Bigger Factor in Losing
Weight
Natalie Wood-Wright School of Public
Health
When it comes to weight loss, what you drink may be
more important than what you eat,
according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. Researchers
examined the relationship between adult beverage
consumption and weight change and found that
weight loss was positively associated with a reduction in
liquid calorie consumption, and liquid calorie
intake had a stronger impact on weight than solid calorie
intake. The results are published in the April
1 issue of the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition.
"Both liquid and solid calories were associated with
weight change. However, only a reduction in
liquid calorie intake was shown to significantly affect
weight loss during the six-month follow-up," said
Benjamin Caballero, senior author of the study and a
professor with the Bloomberg School's
Department of International Health. "A reduction in
liquid calorie intake was associated with a weight
loss of 0.25 kg at six months and 0.24 kg at 18 months.
Among sugar-sweetened beverages, a
reduction of one serving was associated with a weight loss
of 0.5 kg at six months and 0.7 kg at 18
months. Of the seven types of beverages examined,
sugar-sweetened beverages were the only
beverages significantly associated with weight change."
Researchers conducted a prospective study of 810
adults 25 to 79 years old participating in the
PREMIER trial, an 18-month randomized, controlled,
behavioral intervention. Caballero and colleagues
from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Duke
University, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the
Kaiser Permanente Center for Health
Research, the University of Alabama and Pennsylvania State
University measured participants' weight
and height using a calibrated scale and a wall-mounted
stadiometer at both six and 18 months. Dietary
intake was measured by conducting unannounced 24-hour
dietary recall interviews by telephone.
Researchers divided beverages into several categories
based on calorie content and nutritional
composition: sugar-sweetened beverages (regular soft
drinks, fruit drinks, fruit punch and high-
calorie beverages sweetened with sugar), diet drinks (diet
soda and other drinks sweetened with
artificial sweeteners), milk (whole milk, 2 percent
reduced-fat milk, 1 percent low-fat milk and skim
milk), 100 percent juice (fruit and vegetable juices),
coffee and tea with sugar, coffee and tea without
sugar, and alcoholic beverages. They found that at 37
percent, sugar-sweetened beverages were the
leading source of liquid calories.
Consumption of liquid calories from beverages has
increased in parallel with the obesity
epidemic. Earlier studies by Bloomberg School researchers
project that 75 percent 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. Researchers recommend
limited liquid calorie intake among adults
and reduction of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption as
means to accomplish weight loss or avoid
excess weight gain.
"Among beverages, sugar-sweetened beverages were the
only type significantly associated with
weight change at both the six- and 18-month follow-up
periods," said Liwei Chen, lead author of the
study and a Bloomberg School graduate. "Changes in the
consumption of diet drinks and alcoholic
beverages were inversely associated with weight loss but
were not statistically significant. Our study
supports policy recommendations and public health efforts
to reduce intakes of liquid calories,
particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages, in the general
population."
The study was written by Chen, Lawrence J. Appel,
Catherine Loria, Pao-Hwa Lin, Catherine M.
Champagne, Patricia J. Elmer, Jamy D. Ard, Diane Mitchell,
Bryan C. Batch, Laura P. Svetkey and
Caballero.
The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung
and Blood Institute, the National
Institutes of Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health's Center for Human
Nutrition and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
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