Barcelona, may 2009-. Studies on consumption of soft drinks and obesity are becoming more numerous, and yet contradictory outcomes – also provoke heated debate. To try to shed light to the controversy, the scientific journal Nutrition Research Reviews recently published an article entitled soft drinks and obesity: a systematic review of the evidence on the basis of studies and analyses, in which warning of the risk of extrapolating results from studies carried out in the European population United States. The majority of the results of studies conducted with children and adolescents come from United States, where consumption of sugary soft drinks is two times higher compared to the one registered in Europe, explains. Also, this article adds that American society has a lifestyle more sedentary than the existing in Europe, what aggravates the problem of overweight and obesity.

And concludes: most studies suggest that the effect of the consumption of soft drinks on an eventual weight gain is small except in people who are prone to gain weight or have high levels of consumption. Obesity among the American population has increased considerably and according to data from the United States Disease Control Center, in 2005 there was a 23.9% of obese adults, with a BMI greater than 30, while in 2007 that percentage already reached 25.6 per cent. Meanwhile, according to data from the Spanish society for the study of obesity (SEEDO) and the Spanish society of Endocrinology and nutrition (SEEN), the percentage of adult population with obesity in Spain does not reach 16%. This is, almost 10% less than that has United States, an argument that reinforces the thesis provided by Nutrition Research Reviews.