UCLA Study-Further Proof of the Dangers of Soda!

You would think that it is a no-brainer. Soda is BAD. It fosters all kinds of metabolic related diseases. Here is yet another arrow in the back for soda, a new UCLA study.

Regular soda consumption significantly increases a person's risk of obesity, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).

"We drink soda like water," said Harold Goldstein of the Center for Public Health Advocacy, which also took part in the study. "But unlike water, soda serves up a whopping 17 teaspoons of sugar in every 20-ounce serving."

Researchers interviewed 40,000 adults on their beverage consumption habits, finding that adults who drank one sugary beverage per day were 27 percent more likely to be classified as overweight than those who drank sugary beverages less frequently.

Drinking one soda per day involves the consumption of 39 pounds of sugar per year.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, 15.5 percent of adults, 56 percent of teenagers, and 41 percent of children under the age of 12 in Santa Cruz County, Calif., consume one soda per day. The figures on children's consumption were obtained from their parents.

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Body Mass Index Accurate Predictor of Cardiovascular Disease!

December 7, 2009 (The Hague, the Netherlands) — A large prospective study of more than 20 000 Dutch people has shown that body-mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC)--accurately measured by trained staff--were equally predictive of cardiovascular disease (CVD)events and mortality over 10 years [1]. The results are published online December 7, 2009 in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

In summary, in obese respondents (>BMI 30 kg/m2), relative risk of fatal CVD was fourfold higher and risk of nonfatal CVD was twofold higher than in normal-weight respondents. Similar associations were observed for WC (>88 cm vs <80 cm in women and >102 cm vs <94 cm in men).

In those with BMI >25 kg/m2, half of all fatal CVD and a quarter of nonfatal CVD were ascribed to their being overweight.