In their review on dietary sugar and body weight, Kahn and Sievenpiper (1) misrepresented the outcome of our trial of sugar-sweetened beverages and body weight in children (2). Kahn and Sievenpiper described the outcome as follows: “weight loss was quite modest after 12 months (mean difference between groups −0.13 [95% CI −0.20 to −0.06])” (1). In reality, the mean difference between groups was −1 kg or −2.2 lb. This was stated clearly in the article (2). The number of −0.13 quoted by Kahn and Sievenpiper referred to the z-score of the BMI, not to body weight. The effect of 1 kg was achieved by replacing 8 oz of sugary beverage with an indistinguishable sugar-free beverage. Children in the U.S. consume almost three times this amount of sugar-sweetened beverages (3). Decreased consumption of such beverages might therefore reduce the high prevalence of overweight in these children.
Kahn and Sievenpiper concluded that “these larger and longer duration trials show no definitive adverse effect of sugar on body weight” (1). This statement is based on a misrepresentation of the outcome of our trial. A correction would be appropriate.
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Duality of Interest. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
