According to a study published in the
journal Obesity Reviews, while it is no secret that there are good calories as well as bad calories, turns out, in the bad category, there are variations too. According to the University of California, Davis, sugar sweetened beverages play a significant role in chronic health problems. Calories from any food have the potential to increase the risk of obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases. The disease risk increases even when the beverages are consumed within diets that do not result in weight gain.
About 20 researchers explored whether all calories are equal with regards to effects on cardiometabolic diseases and obesity. The study provided an extensive review of the current science on diets that can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes. According to the researchers, sugar-sweetened beverages increase cardiometabolic risk factors compared to equal amounts of starch. Another point of consensus among researchers was the role of the sugar substitute aspartame.
The aspartame does not promote weight gain in adults. The long and short of it is that no human studies on non-caloric sweeteners show weight gain, as per the researchers. However, dairy foods like cheese and yogurt that are high in saturated fats have been associated with reduced cardiometabolic risk.
According to the researchers, they have a long way to go to get precise answers on a lot of different nutrition issues. Nevertheless, healthy diet pattern consisting of minimally processed whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and healthy fats promotes health as compared with refined and palatable typical Western diet pattern.