What the beverage industry doesn’t want you to know about sugary drinks and obesity:

Many scientific studies show that sugary drinks contribute to the obesity crisis more than any other type of food or drink.(1)

Adults who drink one soda or more daily are 27% more likely to be overweight or obese.(2)

Children who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day have 55% greater odds of being overweight or obese.(3)

Obesity increases the risk of [type 2] diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, and certain types of cancer.(4)

Obese children are more likely to suffer from health problems including: asthma, headaches, ear infections, depression, joint and muscle problems and developmental delays.(5)

Youth lead the conversation

The Bigger Picture Campaign is a collaboration between Youth Speaks Inc. and the University of California, San Francisco's Center for Vulnerable Populations designed to combat the rising epidemic of type 2 diabetes by empowering youth to change the conversation about the disease, and work to change the social and environmental factors that have led to its spread. Watch this video now to see The Bigger Picture in action

Sources:

  1. Medline Plus (2011, August 31). Americans getting too many calories from sugary drinks: CDC. Retrieved September 13, 2011, from www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_115985.Html
  2. Office of the Surgeon General. The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation. Rockville,MD, U.S. Department of health and Human Services; 2010
  3. Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future – Fast Facts: Obesity and Health. 2013. Accessed January 15, 2014 at http://fasinfat.org/facts-on-obesity-and-health/
  4. Babey SH, Jones M, Yu H, Goldstein H. Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and Its Link to Obesity in California. UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and California Center for Public Health Advocacy, 2009.
  5. Halfton N, Larson K,  Slusser W.  Associations Between Obesity and Comorbid Mental Health, Developmental, and Physical Health Conditions in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Children Aged 10 to 17.  Academic Pediatrics 2013;13:6–13