LONDON The sugary soft drinks so popular with children are contributing to a growing population of obese youngsters and teenagers, American researchers warned recently.

Instead of drinking milk, water and natural fruit juices which are healthier and more nutritious, children are consuming more sweetened beverages and getting fatter.

Obesity in children in the United States doubled between 1980 and 1994. Other industrialized countries are also seeing an alarming rise in the number of fat children.

"We found that for every additional serving per day of soft drink consumed, the risk of becoming obese increased by about 50 percent," David Ludwig, of the children's hospital in Boston, told Reuters.

"This relation between soft drinks and obesity remained even after taking into account the effects of physical activity levels and other food consumed," he added in a telephone interview.

Because the drinks are so tasty and less filling than food, the children do not feel full or realize how many calories they are consuming.

The added weight they are gaining poses a real health risk because childhood obesity leads to adult obesity and chronic health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

In a study published in medical journal the ****Lancet****, Ludwig and his colleagues reported the results of the first long-term study into the impact of beverages like sugar-sweetened soda, fruit drinks, sweetened ice tea, kool-aid and Hawaiian punch on children's body weight.

They studied 548 youngsters with an average age of about 11 from schools in four communities in Massachusetts for two years.

The researchers monitored how many sweet drinks the children consumed and changes in their body mass index (BMI), a standard method used to measure body fat.

"The average teenager is getting 15 to 20 teaspoons a day of added sugar from soft drinks alone. Consumption rates among children have doubled in the last decade," said Ludwig, the director of the optimal weight for life program at the hospital.

"the U.S. is probably consuming more soda than some European countries but unfortunately this is a trend where America may be leading but the world is rapidly following," he added.

Ludwig and his colleagues found that adolescent boys were the biggest consumers of soft drink. Each additional sweet drink consumed daily equated to a 60 percent increase in BMI and obesity risk.

During the study, the researchers found 57 percent of the children had increased their daily intake of soft drinks and more than half of them by nearly a full serving each day.

(Reuter)