No matter where it comes from a calorie is still a calorie -- even in liquid form. When it comes to losing weight, watching what you drink may be more important than watching what you eat.
"When they're compared -- sugar beverages to food -- when you cut your calories in drinks that have calories you lost more weight," said Dr. Lane Reed with Baylor University Medical Center.
Reed points out that an 18-month study of 810 adults at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health showed that a reduction in liquid calories significantly affected weight loss after six months -- much more so than solids.
"They found reducing one serving of a sugar drink a day will lose a pound in six months, without exercise or diet changes," said Reed.
The complete study appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.