Editor’s note: Dr. Melina Jampolis, CNN’s diet and fitness expert, is a physician nutrition specialist and the author of “The Calendar Diet: A Month by Month Guide to Losing Weight While Living Your Life.”
(CNN) — Q: I’ve heard so much about the dangers of drinking soda. Is it really all that bad for you? Or is it just empty calories?
You may have heard about a new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Nutrition that found an increased risk of stroke in people who consumed more than one soda per day.
These findings are not surprising in light of the growing body of evidence linking intake of sugar sweetened beverages — of which soda makes up the largest percentage — and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and high cholesterol.
Sugar sweetened beverage consumption has increased significantly over the past several decades. Recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data found that half of the U.S. population consumes at least one sugar sweetened beverage on any given day. Men consume on average 178 calories per day from sugar sweetened beverages and women consume 103 calories per day.
Of particular concern in light of the current childhood obesity epidemic is the increased use in children, especially teens and young adults. Soda often displaces more healthful items in the diet and is a warning sign of a poor quality diet.
The dangers of soda extend beyond the increase in calories, although this is likely an important contributor to weight gain and obesity. Calories consumed in liquid form do not satisfy hunger as effectively as calories consumed in solid food form, so people often consume more total calories, which can lead to weight gain.
In addition, consuming large amounts of rapidly digested sugar and high fructose corn syrup causes a spike in blood sugar and

Is Drinking Soda Really That Bad For You?

(CNN) — Americans needing health insurance or disability services could be overlooked by their local governments if a bill now being considered by the Senate passes. It would eliminate a survey that some call a vital source of information about health indicators of millions of Americans, but which House Republicans say is too expensive and raises privacy concerns.
It’s called the American Community Survey. The Census Bureau surveys about a quarter of a million Americans every month. Community officials, academics and businesses rely on this information to understand the markets they operate in and the needs of individual localities. The House last week passed a Republican-backed bill that would cut the survey altogether, citing costs and privacy issues.
The survey program, which reaches more than 3 million people annually, could cost taxpayers upwards of $2.4 billion over the next 10 years. Survey supporters say that isn’t much money in the grand scheme of government, but opponents say the survey is needless and unconstitutional.
“Given the intrusive nature of some of these questions, which are mandatory for Americans to answer under penalty of law, it would seem that these questions hardly fit the scope of what was intended or required by the Constitution,” Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Florida, told Congress last week.
But the American Community Survey is vital to state legislators, mayors, city councils and city planners, said Robert Moffitt, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. These officials need to know information such as how many families don’t have health insurance, how many people are living in poverty, and how many individuals are disabled, so that services can be directed toward the appropriate number of people in particular places, he said.
Academics who rely on the data for research have been particularly concerned about maintaining the survey, whose data is used in a wide variety of analyses.
“If you’re opposed to the survey, you’re opposed to understanding what’s going on in America,” said MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, director of the Program on Health Care Research at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The poverty question is particularly important because in areas where poor families are concentrated, problems multiply, and community officials should know where those areas are, Moffitt said. High crime, health conditions and underperforming public schools are all consequences of poverty clusters, according to the Brookings Institution.
And with health insurance, as communities devise health insurance programs for those who are not covered, it’s useful to know exactly where the uninsured live and other facts about them, such as whether they are also unemployed, Moffitt said.
Gruber says the survey is probably the best source of data on health insurance coverage currently available. Health insurance markets are quite different across areas. The survey additionally allows researchers and policy-makers to look for trends among minorities. “If you want to do any local estimates, you need big samples, and that’s what the

Congress Considers Health Survey