Sugary Drinks Do Not Make You Feel Full and Are Strongly Linked to Weight Gain

The most common added sugar, sucrose or table sugar, contains a significant amount of the simple sugar fructose. Similar to glucose, the sugar that is produced when you digest starchy foods, fructose does not reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin or promote fullness. As a result, because sugary drinks don't make you feel full, when you consume liquid sugar, you often add more to your daily calorie consumption.

In one study, participants who added sugary Coke to their regular diet consumed 17% more calories than they did before. Research shows that those who regularly consume beverages with added sugar gain weight more quickly than those who do not. Each daily serving of beverages with added sugar was found to raise the obesity rate in children by 60% in one study. In fact, one of the diet's most calorie-dense components is sugary drinks.