Soft Drinks and Sugared Beverages

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) include a wide range of products, including carbonated drinks (e.g., Coca-Cola, Pepsi), sports drinks (e.g., Gatorade, Powerade), energy drinks (e.g., Red Bull, Monster), flavored teas (e.g., Snapple Iced Tea), fruit drinks (e.g., Capri Sun, Sunny Delight, Hi-C), and flavored waters (e.g., Vitamin Water). The sweetener may come in the form of sugar, corn syrup, or any other caloric sweetener. Many of these beverage categories also come in “no sugar” versions, which may be completely un sweet ened (e.g., unsweetened iced tea), sweetened only with naturally occurring sugars (e.g., 100% juice), or sweetened with a noncaloric substance such as aspartame, sucralose, or stevia. This entry focuses on sugar-sweetened drinks and reviews (a) the research linking these beverages to increased energy intake and obesity, ...