Duped By Sports Drinks?

Teens with healthy habits are more likely to drink sugar-sweetened sports and fruit drinks than sodas, suggesting that they perceive these beverage options to be consistent with a healthy lifestyle, a study shows.

Researchers say the findings point to the marketing success of heavily advertised drinks that, like sugar-sweetened soft drinks, are high in sugar and have little or no nutritional value.

In terms of health benefits, there is not much difference,” study researcher Nalini Ranjit, PhD, tells WebMD. “Public health advocates have focused their attention on soda, and somehow these drinks have not been on the radar.”

Active Teens Choose Sports Drinks
The study involved more than 15,000 eighth- and 11th-graders attending Texas middle schools and high schools.

Ranjit and colleagues with the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the University of Texas School of Public Health asked the teens about their eating and exercise habits and their beverage consumption.

A total of 22% of the boys and 17% of the girls were obese. Close to four out of five reported drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage the previous day and just over one-in-four (28%) said they drank three or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily.

Teens who drank sugar-sweetened beverages, including sports and fruit-flavored drinks, had more unhealthy eating habits, such as eating fried meats and chips more often than fruits and vegetables. They also exercised less regularly and watched TV and played video games more than teens who did not drink sugar-sweetened beverages.

Teens who drank sports drinks but not soda were more likely to participate in organized sports or engage in other regular exercise than soda drinkers. They also ate more fruits and vegetables, drank more milk, and had healthier eating habits overall.

The study was published online today in the journal Pediatrics.

Sports Drinks vs. Water
Sports drinks contain less sugar than soda, but the amount is still significant, Ranjit says.

By one estimate, sugar-sweetened beverages account for between 10% and 15% of calories the typical teen takes in on a given day.

Ads for sports drinks feature superstar athletes and tout the beverages’ ability to restore electrolytes and rehydrate the body after strenuous physical exercise.

But Ranjit says water is just as good for hydration in most cases.

“Only people who are severely dehydrated due to diarrhea or some other reason really need this level of electrolyte replenishment,” she says.

University of Minnesota School of Public Health professor of nutrition Mary Story, PhD, RD, agrees, adding that most sports drinks contain little more than water, high-fructose corn syrup, and salt with some potassium and magnesium.

“All the casual athlete needs is water,” she says. “If a kid is exercising strenuously in really hot weather for more than 90 minutes, a sports drink may be needed. But how many American kids do this?”

Beverage Industry Responds
In response to the study, a leading trade group representing the non-alcoholic beverage industry issued a written statement noting that the research did not show a link between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and weight, as measured by body mass index (BMI) scores.

The American Beverage Association statement also cited a recent government analysis showing a decline in the consumption of soft drinks and sports drinks among 12- to 19-year-olds.

“The beverage industry continues to change the beverage landscape for children and adolescents,” the statement says. “Starting in 2006, beverage companies removed full-calorie soft drinks from schools and replaced them with lower-calorie, smaller-portion beverage choices. As a result of this initiative, calories available from beverages in schools have been cut by 88%.”

Source: WebMD, September 28, 2010

Water Consumption Needs Improvement

Children in the United States are not drinking as much water as they should, and the deficiency can have far-reaching implications, a new study suggests.

"Even mild dehydration can affect physiological function, and cause fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches and dry mouth," said Samantha Heller, clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., who was not involved in the study.

Impaired cognitive and mental performance are also linked to inadequate hydration, said Heller.

According to the study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, only 15 to 60 percent of boys and 10 to 54 percent of girls, depending on age, drink the minimum amount of water recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

Children obtain much of their water from sweetened beverages rather than plain old
H2O, the researchers found. And those who drink the most plain water consume fewer sweetened beverages and eat fewer high-calorie foods.

For the study, Ashima K. Kant from Queens College of the City University of New York and Barry I. Graubard of the U.S. National Cancer Institute looked at the water intake of 3,978 boys and girls, aged 2 to 19 years, who had been included in a national nutrition study from 2005 to 2006.

Included in their analysis was water itself, water in moist foods, and moisture in all beverages and nutritious drinks such as milk and juice.

The investigators found that water intake from all sources varied by age: 2- to 5-year-olds drank 5.9 cups a day; 6- to 11-year-olds got 6.8 cups, and 12- to 19-year-olds consumed 10.1 cups daily. Girls generally drank less than boys, Kant and Graubard noted.

Kids of all ages are more likely to drink beverages than water at mealtime, the findings suggest. More than two-thirds of water consumption was derived from beverages with main meals, while only one-third of the plain water was consumed with meals, the researchers found.

"Our results suggest age differences in the extent of water contributed by different sources to the diets of American children," the study authors wrote. "The quality of food selections reported in association with plain water intake was better than that reported with increasing beverage moisture, and the strength of these associations varied with age," they added.

"Efforts to moderate the consumption of sweetened beverages and promote plain water intake should not only continue to promote plain water for snacks but also should recognize the importance of replacing nonnutritive beverages at meal time with plain water," Kant and Graubard concluded.

As the children got older, consumption of plain water increased while intake of nutritive beverages, such as milk, decreased, the researchers found.

Water makes up 55 to 75 percent of total body weight, said Heller. "We cannot live without water for more than a few days because our bodies cannot store water. Thus, it is essential we replace the water our bodies lose every day."

Heller, a nutritionist and dietitian, advises starting children on water early.

"Give them water instead of sweetened beverages during the day and between meals," she said. To make it more appealing, put sliced cucumbers, oranges, lemons or strawberries in ice water, she suggested.

And if your child is hooked on sodas, she advised transitioning to seltzer or flavored seltzers instead.

Source:SATURDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News)

Could Drinking Water Before Meals Help You Lose Weight?

Close the diet books and skip the pills. The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat.

A new study found that middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.

Researchers divided overweight and obese men and women aged 55 to 75 into two groups: one group was told to follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet; the other group was told to follow the same diet and to drink two cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After 12 weeks, those who drank water before meals had lost 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the non-water drinkers, a nearly 30 percent difference.

The researchers got the idea for the weight-loss program from their prior research, which found that when middle-aged and older adults drank water before meals, they ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories at the meal.

What they weren't sure about, however, was if water drinkers would compensate by eating more throughout the rest of the day, said senior study author Brenda Davy, an associate professor in the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech. But after 12 weeks of dieting, that didn't happen.

"Drinking more water is a pretty simple strategy that may be helpful to people trying to lose weight," Davy said. "We're not saying, 'Drink more water and the body fat will melt away'. But for people who are trying to lose weight and trying to follow a low-cal diet, it's something they can do as part of that."

The research was to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

One of the most vexing issues with dieting is how difficult it is to keep the weight off long-term, Davy said. After the 12 weeks were up, Davy and her colleagues have continued to follow the participants.

After one year, preliminary data shows that those who continued to drink water before meals not only kept those pounds off, but have even continued to lose a bit more -- about 1.5 pounds on average.

Yet pre-meal water chugging comes with one caveat: it may only work if you're middle-aged or older, Davy said.

Prior research has shown that in those aged 18 to 35, drinking water before the meal did not cause them to eat fewer calories at the meal, Davy said.

In older people, it takes longer for the stomach to empty, which may be why the water helps them feel fuller and less hungry, while in younger people, water begins leaving the stomach almost immediately, Davy said.

Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Obesity Research Center, called the findings "promising." His research has shown people who drinks lots of water drink fewer sugary beverages, eat more fruits and vegetables and overall consume fewer calories throughout the day.

One culprit in the obesity epidemic is that Americans consume some 300 calories more a day in sugary beverages than they did 30 years ago, Popkin added. That includes soda, punch and fruit juices with added sugar, sports drinks and sweetened tea.

"If you drink some more water right before a meal and fill up a little bit right before, there is the potential you may reduce your food intake," Popkin said. "But what we're concerned with is encouraging people to drink water to replace all the caloric beverages we're drinking."

Another challenge to the water-before-meals weight-loss strategy is getting people to do it, said Carla Wolper, an assistant professor in the Eating Disorders Center at Columbia University and a research faculty member at the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.

"The question is, do people continue to drink the water in a non-study situation?" Wolper said. "We know there are a lot of simple things people could do to lose weight. Clinical trials have shown if people write down what they eat, they lost twice as much weight. Yet it's very hard to get people to write down what they eat. Or, if people would reduce portions just a little bit, they would lose weight. But people don't do it."

The same goes for drinking more water. Even seemingly small changes require commitment. "Changing a pattern of behavior is complicated, and requires time and energy," Wolper said.

Still, it could be worth a try, she added. "Unless people overload on water, it's harmless, inexpensive. And if over the course of the entire day, it reduces the amount of food people take in, then of course it's a good idea," Wolper said.

Dieticians often will suggest a non-caloric drink such as club soda with lemon, diet soda or tea to help resist the urge to snack after dinner, Wolper said.

Source: HealthyDay News 8/23/10