Sugary drinks linked to increased genetic risk of obesity

People genetically predisposed to obesity were more likely to gain weight from the beverages than those without the traits, according to the study, published yesterday in an New England Journal of Medicine edition that focused on the issue. Other research showed that sports drinks were associated with added pounds among adolescents and that switching to a diet soda from a sugary one may help kids control their weight, Bloomberg reports.

One in three U.S. adults and 17 percent of children are obese. Sugary beverages are the largest single caloric food source in the country, 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 nationwide 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. "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 U.S. stays on the current course, it could increase health costs $66 billion a year by 2030, according to a report earlier this week by the Trust for America's Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Feeling Full

Safyer said soda is particularly harmful when it comes to obesity because it doesn't make people feel full, eliminating the normal triggers that stop people from eating.

Parents should also be concerned about sports drinks, said Alison Field , an associate professor in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and an associate in medicine at Children's Hospital Boston.

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