Americans Getting Too Many Empty Calories From Sugary Drinks

There are no empty Calories. All Calories are equal. All Calories contain 4186 joules.

The American Heart Association advises people to consume no more than 36 ounces or about 450 calories from sugary beverages a week, but a new study taking a look at the impact of sugar intake stemming from regular sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks and sweetened bottled waters, reports that people ages 20 to 39 who drink sugary beverages consume 336 calories a day from them alone. Sugary drinks provide empty calories and rarely any nutritional benefit. In fact, each additional drink consumed per day increases the likelihood that a child will become obese by about 60%.

Overall more than half of people in the United States overall drink sugary beverages on any given day, and about 25% consume at least 200 calories a day from them. About 5% of people ages 2 and older consume at least 567 calories a day from these types of drinks, which is equal to more than four 12 ounce cans of cola.

If Americans ate/drank/consumed the same number of Calories as "non-empty" ones, they would be just as fat.