Replacing One Sugary Beverage With Water Can Significantly Improve Health

Replacing one sugar-sweetened beverage with a glass of water can significantly reduce daily calorie intake and improve overall health, according to a new study.

To examine the effects of this replacement, the researchers used nationally representative data from 19,718 adults in the United States participating in the 2007-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
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Participants were classified as consuming less than one serving of sugary beverage, 1 to 2 servings, or 2 or more servings over the previous 24 hours.

The researchers measured the impact on Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) scores and obesity prevalence.

Their findings showed that participants reduced their percent of energy from beverages when they swapped a sugary drink with water.

For those consuming one sugary beverage per day, replacing it with one 8-oz glass of water reduced their percent of energy from beverages from 17% to 11%.

In addition, adults who replaced one sugary beverage with one glass of water had a 9% to 21% improvement in HBI score.

Using previously published randomized, controlled trials and meta-analyses of measured weight loss, the researchers also predicted a reduction in the prevalence of obesity and increase in the prevalence of normal weight.

“Our findings provide further epidemiologic evidence that water in the place of [sugar-sweetened beverages] can be used as a strategy to limit energy intake and help individuals meet beverage intake recommendations,” they concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Duffey KJ, Poti J. Modeling the effect of replacing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with water on energy intake, HBI score, and obesity prevalence [published online June 28, 2016]. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu8070395.