Energy balance
In individuals with high central adiposity (high trunk fat), replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with either unsweetened beverages or artificially sweetened beverages leads to greater weight loss compared to continuing to consume sugar-sweetened beverages.
If you carry extra weight around your stomach, switching your daily sugary drinks to water or diet soda can help you lose weight or prevent weight gain over a year. This benefit is specific to those with higher belly fat; if you are lean, you might not see a weight change, but you also won't gain weight from the switch.
Among participants in the highest tertile of baseline trunk fat... weight gain was greater... for the SSB (4.4±1.0 kg... compared with ASB (0.5±0.9 kg) or USB (−0.2±0.9 kg) group.
Why this rating
RCT design with high retention and statistically significant interaction term (P=0.006) for trunk fat.
Source
Effects of Sugar‐Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Beverages on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Body Composition, and Sweet Taste Preference: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · Journal of the American Heart Association · 2020
DOI 10.1161/jaha.119.015668
More from this paper
- Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with unsweetened beverages (USBs) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) for 12 months does not significantly improve cardiometabolic risk factors (specifically the TG:HDL-C ratio) in the general adult population.Good
- Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with unsweetened beverages (USBs) reduces sweet taste preference (threshold and favorite concentration) more effectively than replacing them with artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs).Good
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