to both diabetes and heart disease. (8) According to nutrition experts, sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet teas, and sport drinks, offer little or no nutritional value, but massive quantities of added sugars. A 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 16 teaspoons of sugars. Yet, the American Heart Association recommends that Americans consume no more than six to nine teaspoons of sugar per day. (9) The 2010 Dietary Guidelines stated that almost one-half of the added sugars Americans consume come from sugar-sweetened beverages, with the average American drinking nearly 45 gallons of sugar-sweetened beverages a year, the equivalent of 39 pounds of extra sugar every year. (10) Though sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is declining modestly as people learn about their harmful health effects, Americans are still consuming twice as much of these products as they did in the 1970s. Five percent of Americans consume at least 567 kcal from sugar drinks on any given day—equal to more than four 12-ounce cans of soft drink. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, one-third of calories from added sugars (33 percent) consumed in the United States were from beverages. In children and adolescents, 40 percent of the calories from added sugars came from beverages. Children and adolescents consume 10 to 15 percent of their total daily caloric intake from sugar-sweetened beverages. (11) In a study of more than 50,000 female nurses, women who increased their sugar-sweetened beverage consumption from no more than one per week to at least one per day gained an average of 10 pounds over four years. Research also shows a significant link between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain in children. In a randomized double-blind controlled trial of roughly 640 children, those who were given one 8-ounce serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage a day gained more weight and body fat over 1½ years than those who got one 8-ounce serving of a sugar-free beverage. (12) Sugar-sweetened