5 Points About Liquid Calories

1. Liquid calories may not be a prudent investment of your calories.

Liquid calories don't seem to work in the stomach like normal food calories . They don't satisfy hunger. The next time you drink a high-calorie beverage, try to feel how your stomach feels after an hour. You will find that you are not satisfied

Research shows :

"fructose (the chief component in high-fructose corn syrup) is quite different from glucose. It neither stimulate insulin secretion nor enhance leptin production. And higher levels of insulin and leptin in the blood stream do help regulate body weight by serving as signals that food has been eaten"

2. Getting high with high-fructose corn syrup.

Many experts say that one of the major cause of rise in obesity in the United States and worldwide is due to the rising intake of high-fructose corn syrup, which is a component in many soft drinks, sports drinks and fruit juices.

One study found that :

"Rats fed a high-fructose diet were more likely to develop features of metabolic syndrome"

Researcher: Richard J. Johnson, MD, of the University of Florida College of Medicine.

3. Soda intake may add to obesity.
Excess calories lead to obesity. Full-calorie soda is really a culprit to add a lot of calories to many of our diets.
A recent study shows:

"after follw up of 2,300 young girls for 10 years showed that soda intake predicted the greatest increase in the girls' body mass index (BMI)"

Several other studies have shown that:

"as intake of sweetened soda increased, so also the resultant on weight gain"

4. Better to eat carbohydrates than to drink them.
A study by Purdue University showed:

"significant weight gain can occur when people consume carbohydrates as liquids which is not the case with solid food. In the study, 15 men and women consumed extra carbohydrates each day for 4 weeks, either as a liquid (soda) or a solid (jelly beans). The rest of the day's intake was according to their will. The study participants maintained their normal calorie intake . By that they compensated for the extra soda calories. No doubt the compensation was naturally for the extra calories that were consumed in the form of jellybeans"

5. The bottom line to alternative sweeteners.
Research on alternative sweeteners
"one diet drink a day or NutraSweet in your morning coffee is not anything to worry about. If you regularly consume much more than that or in the case you eat several low-calorie foods that are sweetened with aspartame, then consider the suggestions of Environmental Nutrition which advocates switching to products which use a less controversial sweetener say sucralose (i.e Splenda) or a sucralose blend."
Source : April 2006 issue of the Environmental Nutrition newsletter