When it comes to losing weight, cutting back on the calories in sugar-sweetened drinks, rather than food, may be most important. So say researchers who found that cutting back on calories from sugary beverages ? by only one serving per day ? accounted for nearly two-and-a-half pounds of lost weight over 18 months.

"Weight loss from liquid calories is greater than loss of calorie intake from solid food," concluded lead researcher Dr. Liwei Chen, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans.

One reason for this is that the body is able to self-regulate its intake of solid food. For example, if you eat too much solid food at lunch, you'll tend to eat less at dinner. But the same self-regulation is not there for what you drink, experts say. Your body does not adjust to liquid calories, so over time, you gain more weight, Chen explained.

In summary, just stick to plain water if you really want to get something to wet your whistle.

(Source) Forbes