[Sugar-sweetened beverages and cardiometabolic risk]

The observation of parallel increase in the prevalence of obesity and consumption of sweet beverages has drawn the attention of the scientific community on the possibility of a link between these tendencies at the population level. Clinical and epidemiological evidence support the possibility of a relationship between consumption of sweet beverages and the occurrence of obesity and diabetes. The precise mechanisms of these associations need further clarification. Nutritional education programs aiming at reducing sweet beverage intake in experimental schools have lowered the occurrence of obesity as compared to control schools. Energy intake via beverages is less efficiently regulated than energy from solid foods. Strategies for obesity and diabetes prevention should incorporate not only increasing physical activity, improving fatty acid quality of food items, but also reducing energy intake from beverages.