Why Sugary Beverages Are Not So Sweet

“A study in The BMJ found a 100 milliliter daily increase of sugary drink intake was associated with 18% higher odds of developing cancer and 22% higher odds of developing breast cancer. The findings, based on up to nine years of data from 101,257 French adults, 79% of them female, didn't show a correlation between artificially sweetened drinks and cancer risk, but the authors noted the study had relatively low consumption of that type of beverage.”- CNN (7/11/19), Reuters (7/11/19)

To keep things short and sweet (no pun intended 😉), I prefer to stick to bulleted lists. So, here are my take-away highlights pertaining to this topic:

• Beverages don’t undergo the mechanical portion of the digestive process that foods do, therefore sugar from beverages is absorbed into the blood stream much more rapidly than sugar from foods (thus causing a more dramatic spike in blood sugar).

• Further, if we’re talking fruit, fruit juices don’t contain nearly the fiber offered by fruits in their whole-food form. The fiber in whole fruits helps slow the digestion of their sugar. When it is absent in fruit juices, there is nothing to help slow this digestion.

• Beverages do not contribute to satiety in the same capacity as food. Therefore, we are at a greater risk of over-consuming them.

• Another downside of beverages not being strong satiety-contributors is that they are typically consumed IN ADDITION to our food, thus are a source of empty, excess calories.

Now, I am not well-versed on the researched connection between sugary drink intake and cancer risk/development. However, understanding the logic laid out above is enough for me to stay away from sugar-sweetened beverages for life! You with me?!