Ask a Dietitian

The warm weather is coming and people are getting thirsty.  What type of beverage are they choosing?  Often a sugar sweetened beverage.  These beverages are widely available, often less expensive than milk or pure fruit juice and have catchy marketing and labels to draw consumers in.  But at what cost? Excess calorie consumption, obesity and displaced nutrients.  There is no nutritional or health benefit to be gained from drinking these beverages and consumption must be reduced.

Dietary intake and food choices play and important role in our global obesity epidemic.  The consistent excessive intake of calories beyond what a person expends leads to weight gain.  Excessive weight gain leads to obesity and increases the risk of several chronic and serious diseases including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and various cancers.  Research shows that consumption of sugar sweetened beverages including pop, sugar sweetened carbonated and non-carbonated beverages including sports drinks, which provide calories but virtually no nutrients, is thought to be one of the dietary factors leading to this obesity.

Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in availability and consumption of sugar sweetened beverages.  Several studies have shown that there is a link between body weight and intake of sugar sweetened beverages.  Moreover, as sugar beverage intake increases it displaces some more nutritionally superior beverages such as milk and 100% pure fruit juice.  There is the additional concern that when a beverage containing calories is consumed it does not lead to a reduction in calories consumed through food.

Several steps are being made to help curb and reduce sugar sweetened beverage intake such as reducing the marketing of these products to children.  The other policy initiative, also aimed at children and youth, is to reduce availability through schools, both in type, selection and portion size.  Another route being explored is the taxation of these beverages to curb consumption.  This policy has the benefit of delivering a strong message; that governments and policy makers are concerned about health and nutrition.

However, you as an individual can make the choice to avoid sugar sweetened beverages all on your own.  Make these simple steps.

-Avoid all regular pop, buy diet instead

-Only use sports drinks, during exercise, in sports environments as they are intended

-Don’t get fooled by marketing, vitamin waters are not good value

-Choose beverages sweetened with Stevia such as Zevia in place of other pop.  There is even a cola flavour with caffeine!

-Drink water, sparking water, herbal tea (cold or hot)

-Limit fruit juice and make it 100% pure

-Choose milk, soymilk, almond milk or rice milk