A new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), examined the link between the beverages adults consume and the changes in their weight.

The findings? Weight loss was positively associated with decreased consumption of liquid calories. In fact, liquid calories had a stronger impact on weight than calories from solid food.

While both liquid and solid calories played a role in the participants' weight changes, only a decrease in liquid calories had a significant impact on weight loss during the 6-month follow-up period. Subjects (a total of 810 adults, ranging in age from 25 to 79 years) who had been used to drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, but who decreased such drinks by 1 serving, experienced a weight loss of 1.1 pounds at 6 months into the study and 1.5 pounds 18 months later.

Although 7 different kinds of beverages were used in this study, only changes in the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages were linked with significant weight change. The researchers also discovered that consuming less alcohol resulted in a small improvement in weight, but that this reduction didn't turn out to be statistically significant. Interestingly, a decrease in diet drinks also resulted in weight loss, although these changes were not statistically significant either.

My take-aways from this research:

• Although the weight loss in this study may seem modest, such losses over time could really add up to big reductions in weight.
  
• Sugary drinks, in particular, should be limited as much as possible, if not avoided altogether, since they're empty calories. (And please note that this caveat applies even to the newer lines of drinks that contain added vitamins and minerals.) I generally recommend avoiding any drinks that list sugar, high-fructose-corn-syrup, or other simple sugars among the first few ingredients.
  
• If you're watching your weight, you should also limit 100-percent fruit juices to perhaps 4 ounces a day. I make this recommendation because juices contain concentrated amounts of calories, are quickly consumed, and don't fill you up the way the fiber-filled whole fruits do. (Is juice part of a weight-friendly diet?)
  
• If you're drinking alcohol regularly, take a look at your alcohol intake and drinking habits and determine if the amounts you consume could be excessive. See if you can cut down on your intake, since alcohol has 7 calories per gram, which can really add up. Drinking, especially on an empty stomach, can also make you hungry.
  
• This study's findings do suggest that even cutting down on diet drinks can help you control your weight. Although this is a controversial finding, I do in fact usually discourage my clients from consuming significant amounts of diet drinks. Besides the present AJCN article, some other preliminary research appears to suggest zero-calorie diet drinks might still increase hunger and cravings, which could add up to increased caloric intake and frustration with a weight-loss plan. (The truth about diet soda.)