100g of weight for 100g of sugary drinks per day
The team of researchers from Denmark and Australia conducted a secondary analysis of the Healthy Start Study, a 1.5-year randomized controlled trial designed to prevent overweight in young children aged from 2 to 6. Their analysis reveals that sugary drink intake and the substitution of these drinks with milk is associated with a change in weight and BMI. Each increase of 100ml of sugary drink intake is associated with a 100g gain in body weight and 0.06 units of BMI.
Preventing childhood obesity
However, daily substitution of 100g of sugary drink with 100g of milk is inversely associated with weight (-160g) and BMI (-0.07 points). The authors concluded that, in line with the current recommendations, sugary drinks should be discouraged to help prevent childhood obesity and that milk constitutes a good alternative, in particular among young obesity-predisposed children.