This is a good place to start for my "grumpy" blog. Three new studies has linked sugary drinks to obesity. The three studies published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine show it but of course, the industry spokesmen are denying it. This seems a lot like the tobacco stuff years ago.
OF COURSE IT IS RELATED. DAAAAAA.... I hope we didn't spend to much in research dollars to prove it. Maybe I will do a study to see if the sun always comes up in the east.
Here is a link to a news article if you're interested HERE.
I have fought this battle for over 30 years. In practice, I ask a child how much pop, juice or Kool-Aid they drink a day. You must ask about Kool-Aid because that is considered health food in some households. Also "Sunny-D" is also health food... I always get the same answer. "Not Much". Now I dig until I get a number. That is usually 1-2 cans per day. I have had over two 2 liter bottles per day included in the "not much" answer.
So lets do a little math. First, what is normal serving size? The industry likes to use 1 cup (8oz) A can is 12 oz but most bottles are 20 oz plus and most household glass are about 16. So 12oz is 140-180 depending on brand. But most teens use a larger serving size so lets use 200 calories per serving. Most are more than that. Juice is natures pop. Actually a little higher in calories. So if we use 200 calories for the one serving per day we have (200X365) divided by 3500 calories per pound you get just over 20 POUNDS of wt gain per year for one severing of pop/juice per day. Actually it is probably a bit more since the fat needs to be supported by cell structure and blood supply.
And I won't even bring up the glycemic effect if all that sugar.
So I ask you, why are we training our children that they must always have a drink in their hand? WHY... Are we really that stupid? Train your young children to drink when they are thirsty. And to drink only water between meals. Is it really that hard?
We've had this talk so many times, and I had the same experience back in my days of primary care (FYI for those that don't know, I'm Dr. Dan's daughter and I"m also a pediatrician, though I only work in the ICU now). Only my response from moms was in Spanish. Always "not much", and usually more than 1 2 Liter a day per kid. We also had to ask specifically about Flaming hot cheetos, since those somehow didn't count as food.
ReplyDeleteI digress.
Anyways, this is why your grand daughter only drinks water and milk. Her dentist was very surprised (and super happy) at her first checkup recently when I told him.