Weight loss: certain drinks make you eat more high-calorie foods

Sweet drinks, alcoholic drinks, light drinks, coffee, tea... drinks have their own caloric content, but are also associated differently with calories from the rest of the diet. Some drinks “force you to eat high-calorie foods that you wouldn’t eat without them.”

This study provides an overview of the direct contribution of different drinks to caloric intake. Some drinks actually cause you to eat things you wouldn't otherwise eat and therefore increase your calorie intake. The data collected focuses on the associations between drinks and consumption of foods which have no nutritional necessity and are of high energy density. It covers no fewer than 22,513 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 2003 to 2012.

Alcoholic drinks make you eat richer foods

The results show that alcoholic beverages lead the increase in energy intake associated with beverages, with 385 kcal/day, followed by sugary drinks (226 kcal/d), coffee (108 kcal/d) light drinks (69 kcal/day) and tea (64 kcal/day). For light drinks and coffee, this energy increase is greater than the intrinsic energy intake of the drinks, respectively 15 and 19 kcal/d. Consumers of light drinks and coffee have a higher caloric intake from food than those who consume sugary drinks.

choose your drink when you want to control your weight

This association between diet drinks and consuming more calories from high-calorie foods than consumers of sugary drinks should be interpreted with caution. It does not mean that it is better to consume sugary drinks, because even if the latter are less associated with taking rich foods, the sugar they provide is far from negligible. 

The consumption of light drinks, although harmful to health, compared to that of sugary drinks, is associated with a lower total caloric intake