Energy balance
Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with noncaloric beverages reduces BMI and body weight in overweight and obese adolescents, but this effect is statistically significant only during the active 1-year intervention phase and disappears after one year of follow-up without intervention.
For overweight adolescents, replacing sugary drinks with water or diet drinks can help reduce weight gain, but only as long as the habit is actively supported. Once the support stops, the benefit disappears, suggesting that long-term success requires permanent behavioral change or environmental adjustments, not just a temporary fix.
Among overweight and obese adolescents, the increase in BMI was smaller in the experimental group than in the control group after a 1-year intervention designed to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, but not at the 2-year follow-up (the prespecified primary outcome).
Why this rating
High-quality randomized controlled trial design with high retention rates (97% at 1 year), though the primary outcome was not met at 2 years.
Source
A Randomized Trial of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Adolescent Body Weight
Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · New England Journal of Medicine · 2012
DOI 10.1056/nejmoa1203388
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