Drinking Water Can Reduce Obesity

Video: Drinking Water Can Reduce Obesity

Video: Drinking Water Can Reduce Obesity
Video: Drinking Water To Lose Weight, The Water Diet !!! 2024, November
Drinking Water Can Reduce Obesity
Drinking Water Can Reduce Obesity
Anonim

It's not just Americans who are facing an obesity epidemic. Children and adolescents gain weight at an alarming rate. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that obesity among children between the ages of 6 and 11 has more than doubled in the last 20 years.

A recent study shows that there is a simple and effective way to reduce excessive calorie intake, which causes overweight and childhood obesity. The solution is not a new drug - it is just to drink more water instead of sugary drinks.

Drinks
Drinks

This is the conclusion of scientists from Columbia University, authors of the study. They analyzed what children and teenagers in the study described eating and drinking on two different days.

It is then calculated what it would mean to replace sweetened beverages with water for total energy intake in children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years. The result? Drinking water instead of sugary drinks can eliminate an average of over 235 calories a day.

"There is clear evidence that replacing these 'liquid calories' with calorie-free drinks, both at home and at school, is a key strategy to eliminate more calories and prevent childhood obesity," says Dr. J. Claire Wang, assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia University and lead author of the study.

Sweetened Drinks
Sweetened Drinks

"It's very important for children and adolescents to be more active," explains Dr. Wang. "But simply excluding the extra calories from these sweetened drinks, which they don't need, can restore energy balance." For example, an ordinary 15-year-old boy will have to run slowly for 30 minutes to burn the calories contained in a can of soda.

About 90% of American children and teens currently consume sugary drinks every day. These include soft drinks, fruit drinks, punches, sweetened tea. The calories contained in these drinks can add 10% or more to the total daily energy intake of young people. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that eliminating or reducing the intake of sweetened beverages will not increase the consumption of other foods and beverages as compensation.

Increasing childhood obesity requires finding approaches, such as closing the gap between daily energy intake and daily energy expenditure. Changes like this can lead to significant benefits for the general population.

Recommended: