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The question of whether sugary drinks contribute to obesity is controversial, not least because the large manufacturers of the drinks would most likely suffer if the contribution to obesity were proved.

Michael Bloomberg, the recent Mayor of New York believed the problem so serious he tried to impose bans and taxes on some drinks in an attempt to fight flab in the city (see NYT stories here and here. The industry disagreed with his position arguing that soft drinks were irrelevant to obesity:

"The New York City health department’s unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top,” the industry spokesman, Stefan Friedman, said. “It’s time for serious health professionals to move on and seek solutions that are going to actually curb obesity."

Given the controversy, what does the balance of evidence look like? Do sugary drinks contribute significantly to obesity?

NB I think answers should avoid the meaningless distinction between sucrose and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as the difference is negligible when ingested.

Also note that related, but not identical, questions have been asked here before such as: Can artificial sweeteners make you gain weight?

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matt_black
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  • I'm using fat in its colloquial sense and I don't think it is misleading in context. – matt_black Jan 03 '14 at 19:11
  • @articuno I realise your adjustment to the title is driven by a desire to be a precise and accurate as possible, but my original was *punchier, shorter, read better and was more likely to attract attention.* And the possibility of any ambiguity was resolved in the body. But i'm not going to start a rollback war, just hope you allow a little leeway in future about how to word titles. – matt_black Jan 03 '14 at 20:22
  • I've written before about [having a hierarchy of trust](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/2528/23) depending on the source. You have quoted a systematic review of systematic reviews in a high profile peer-reviewed journal as the source of the claim. What could we possible give as a stronger reference than that? (Any facetious mention of a systematic review of systematic reviews of systematic reviews has been omitted.) – Oddthinking Jan 04 '14 at 00:36
  • @Oddthinking You are quite right. I should have quoted the newspaper source (NYT, I think) and allowed and answer to include the evidence from the metaanalysis. My bad. But I think the evidence deserves a good answer here. – matt_black Jan 04 '14 at 01:15
  • It is stated in many many places. Almost any one in fitness business will say to stay away from sugar but not so much for butter of other fat or meat. Getting good studies in favor and against this claim is very useful – Tanmoy Jan 04 '14 at 08:36
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    I think this topic has been beaten to death on this site, it's not a very interesting question. – Sklivvz Jan 04 '14 at 13:09
  • @Sklivvz I though so too until i realised this simple version of the question had not ben asked before and no answer has summarised the most recent quality evidence. And i think it not only *interesting* but *significant*. – matt_black Jan 04 '14 at 13:12
  • @Oddthinking I've rewritten the body to pose the question without presuming an answer. I will do an answer if nobody else get there first. – matt_black Jan 04 '14 at 13:14
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    Why isn't the answer to the question "Consuming too much sugar, in any form, will make you fat"? – SIMEL Jan 04 '14 at 15:19
  • @Tanmoy careful though, this question is not about whether removing fat makes any difference, it's about sugary drinks *all other things being equal*. – Sklivvz Jan 04 '14 at 15:29
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    @matt_black, because you are essentially asking whether sugar makes you fat. The problem with sugary drinks is not that they are somehow more fattening than other sources of sugar, but that they are easier to consume in large amounts. A litre of coke has 420 Kcal, while a big mac has 550, but the big mac is much more filling. – SIMEL Jan 04 '14 at 15:30
  • @IlyaMelamed I don't think this is a reason to doubt the quality of the question: it sounds more like a part of the answer to the question. Besides, the drinks industry has questioned whether the contribution of suragy drinks does make people fat. – matt_black Jan 04 '14 at 15:43
  • @Articuno There is nothing wrong with the word fat (and it has the advantage of not implying a specific BMI unlike "obese"). I am referring to a real live controversy, not making it up. The industry response constitutes a claim. And I took the reference out because it would be better to put it in the *answer* as oddthinking's comments pointed out. When I vote on your questions I try to focus on *substance* ignoring the fact that I disagree with you on many issues of style. – matt_black Jan 04 '14 at 15:59
  • Let's keep this about the question, folks. – Sklivvz Jan 04 '14 at 22:24

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Bes-Rastrollo M, Schulze MB, Ruiz-Canela M, Martinez-Gonzalez MA (2013) Financial Conflicts of Interest and Reporting Bias Regarding the Association between Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Weight Gain: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews. PLoS Med 10(12): e1001578. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001578

[M]ost reviews that reported having no conflicts of interest argued that current evidence justified public health strategies that discourage the consumption of [sugar sweetened beverages].

Among those reviews without any reported conflict of interest, 83.3% of the conclusions (10/12) were that [sugar sweetened beverage] consumption could be a potential risk factor for weight gain.

[T]he best large randomized trials also support a direct association between [sugar sweetened beverage] consumption and weight gain or obesity.

Reviews that declared conflicts of interest with food companies reported results in the opposite direction, but this review concluded that this "suggests an empirical evidence of bias" and that "these findings draw attention to possible inaccuracies in scientific evidence from research funded by the food and drink industry".

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  • What are the "results in the opposite direction": are they that "sugar doesn't make you fat", or that "sugar sweetened beverage consumption could not be a potential risk factor for weight gain", or that "current evidence doesn't justify public health strategies that discourage the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages"? – ChrisW Jan 04 '14 at 23:20
  • @ChrisW The latter two: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001578.t001/originalimage –  Jan 04 '14 at 23:23