Many Americans with ever-expanding waistlines are aware of the need to monitor calories in the foods they eat but many of them overlook the beverage calories that hinder even the most diligent weight-loss attempts.  Sweetened beverages pack a highly caloric punch that adds the pounds just as food calories do and Americans are consuming these beverages in record numbers, according to a recently released study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sweetened beverages, including fruit juices, smoothies, teas, sodas, and punches, don’t offer enough nutritional value to justify regular consumption and they don’t produce the same appetite-satisfying feeling of fullness that the same number of food calories do.  The Johns Hopkins study reveals Americans today consume between 150 and 300 more calories per day than 30 years ago.  About half those extra calories come from beverages.

To gain a pound, a person must consume 3,500 calories beyond metabolic need.  Consuming just 500 extra calories a day for one week can add a pound of excess body weight.  Without significant dietary changes, 75% of the adult population is expected to be overweight or obese by 2015.

The human body’s mechanism for regulating appetite and food consumption is highly complex, relying on cues both physiological and environmental.  The study’s authors suggest these cues are being sidestepped by drinking highly caloric beverages instead of eating food.  Beverages aren’t as filling as food nor do they require chewing so the physiological signals aren’t being relayed.  Beverages are also too quick to prepare to adequately trigger environmental cues that satisfy hunger.

Even though sweetened beverages contain many calories from sugars, sugar has little or no nutritional value.  The ‘empty’ calories supplied by sugar do not satisfy the body’s nutritional requirements but get stored as fat instead.  All sugars (high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, honey, fructose, etc.) supply four calories per gram so beverages sweetened by any sugar source, including fresh fruit smoothies, juices, and sweetened teas that might otherwise be considered healthful, must be included in daily calorie counts to lose excess pounds or maintain a healthy weight.

Dr. Benjamin Caballero, senior author for the study, says calorie count per serving is more important than reading the ingredients list on a beverage or food label and that all calories consumed, whether from food or drink, must be included as total daily caloric intake.  When 300 calories from beverages are consumed, 300 from foods must be avoided to achieve caloric balance.  People who consume too many calories are urged to eliminate all empty calories first, especially those that come from beverages, to benefit from calorie-counting and weight-loss programs.