Replacing soda with water can shave 14 pounds from your waistline in just one year, a study had found.

The study from Consumer Reports said that simply drinking 20 ounces of water instead of the same amount of soda will save you 119 cups of sugar.

Making this switch will protect your body from absorbing 52 extra pounds of refined sugar over 12 months, the study said.

Experts say this could make a difference in a country where seven percent of all calories consumed can be attributed to sugary drinks – which contribute barely any nutritional value – and more than a third of the citizens are obese.

The average American consumes 150 calories from soda each day but 40 percent of the population consumes anywhere from 300 to 800 soda calories daily. That is despite a huge drop in the consumption of sugary drinks in the last few years, declining 27 percent since 1998.

The CDC warns against any drink sweetened with one of the following on its label:

High-fructose corn syrup
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrates
Honey
Sugar
Syrup
Corn syrup
Sucrose
Dextrose
The study points out that this is mainly because bottled water has become a popular alternative.

Nonetheless, the obesity rate has risen in recent decades.

Researchers also looked at what would happen if you swapped out other beverages for a daily 20-ounce soda.

Drinking eight ounces of milk instead will help you shed 6.5 pounds or having a 16-ounce iced coffee (with milk and sugar) will save you nine.

A 20-ounce cola has 16 teaspoons of added sugar, the study said. It also chronicled how America has become the most overweight country in the world.

‘Seemingly small increases in calories through the years have contributed to America’s current obesity epidemic, which suggests that relatively small adjustments could go a long way toward alleviating it,’ it said.

The study pointed out that America’s weight gain problem has stemmed from a caloric increase in Americans’ diets overtime.

It includes an estimate that they have added about 300 calories a day to their diets over the years.

‘Take away one can of soda, which would be about 150 calories, and you’re halfway there to offsetting that,’ Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr Thomas Farley said.

The study said that young people in particular would benefit from cutting soda out of their daily routine because ‘those who are overweight in childhood tend to be overweight as adults’.

The CDC warns against sugar-sweetened beverages saying that frequently drinking them can lead to diabetes, heart disease, kidney diseases, tooth decay, gout, cavities and non-alcoholic liver disease.

Courtesy ,  Maggie O’Neill( Dailymail )