It's the soda, stupid!!

Finally the war is on to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks among the general population:

In reports to be published in science journals this week, two groups of researchers hope to add evidence to the theory that soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks don't just go hand-in-hand with obesity, but actually cause it. Not that these drinks are the only cause -- genetics, exercise and other factors are involved -- but that they are one cause, perhaps the leading cause.
...
Biologically, the calories from sugar-sweetened beverages are fundamentally different in the body than those from food.

The main sweetener in soda -- high-fructose corn syrup -- can increase fats in the blood called triglycerides, which raises the risk of heart problems, diabetes and other health woes.

This sweetener also doesn't spur production of insulin to make the body "process" calories, nor does it spur leptin, a substance that tamps down appetite, as other carbohydrates do, explained Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"There's a lack of fullness or satiety. The brain just seems to add it on," said Dr. Louis Aronne, a Weill-Cornell Medical College doctor who is president of the Obesity Society.
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"Caloric imbalance causes obesity, so in the sense that any one part of the diet is contributing excess calories, it's contributing causally to the obesity," Thun said. "It doesn't mean that something is the only cause. It means that in the absence of that factor there would be less of that condition."

Sodas contain a huge amount of sugar (over 10 TABLESPOONS in each can), and the diet ones use sugar substitutes produced in chemical labs that someday might be deemed carcinogenic (why else would the ingredient keep changing? When they find a problem with one, they switch to another, until another problem arises). Don't believe me? Check out Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, then get back to me.

It's about time this issue starts getting treated seriously by the medical community and the government.