Drinking Water Instead of Soda Helps Control Childhood Obesity: Experts

Giving children water instead of sugary drinks during meal time helps prevent childhood obesity, suggest health experts.

The officials from the Public Health England (PHE) are all set to bring down the intake of sugar in children by urging parents to ensure their child is allowed to drink only water with meals. The trend in the consumption of sweetened soda, caffeinated drinks and fruit juices with added sugar has led to an increase in sugar and calorie intake - particularly in teens and young children. Many nutritionists believe introducing children to sweetened drinks and juices forced them to "go out of the habit of drinking water" with meals, reports BBC News.

Although the current recommendation is not a permanent remedy for obesity, it holds a promise to bring about significant changes. The PHE's report advises that daily caloric intake from sugars added in honey, fruit juices and syrups must not exceed beyond 11 percent. In case of food products not containing alcohol, the sugar intake per day must be below 10 percent. Majority of people in the U.K., especially children, do not adhere to health guidelines on sugar consumption. The agency's nutritionists, therefore, ask parents to replace unhealthy drinks and colas with water to avert the risk of excessive weight gain and obesity.

"Choose something else. It comes back to simple advice to parents, encourage your children to drink water," said Susan Jebb, a professor at the University of Oxford, reports the BBC news.

"Once they've been weaned, 'children should be drinking water' is absolutely the message. Milk is fine, but that should be the mainstay of our advice," she added.

The organization will be releasing a new statement on controlling sugar consumption and eating food with high amount of carbohydrates like white bread and rice. The nutritionists believe apart from imposing heavy taxes on sugary products and beverages, care-givers and parents must be encouraged to check eating and drinking habits of their children.

The recent advertising and heavy marketing of aerated drinks and junk food brands, who are the official sponsors of FIFA World Cup in Brazil, also induce children and youngsters to overindulge in these products. Sugary beverages, sold as energy and sports drinks, make people assume that high sugar intake leads to a physically-active lifestyle.

"We have the World Cup going on at the moment. Some of these energy drinks are extremely high in sugar containing between 60 and 70 grams of sugar in a single bottle," said Tom Sanders, professor and head of diabetes and nutritional sciences at Kings College London, reports the Independent.

 "That is a problem we are going to have to deal with - how these foods are marketed and how they are presented," he added.