Michael Schilling, Rachelle Paisley, Leah Ferdelman, Brittany Seymour, Sarah Gallik,

1
Does this soda make me look fat? Effects of Soft
Drink Consumption on Weight Gain in Rats
Michael Schilling, Rachelle Paisley, Leah
Ferdelman, Brittany Seymour, Sarah Gallik,
Meredith Wessner, Chelsea Hetrick, Allison
Paulett, Ashley Juvinall, Molly Sheils, Stevi
Goodrich, Kaitlyn Kondas, Tyler Cooper, Elise
Duplin, Anna Kyaio, Jennifer Lewis, Elisha Neely,
Ashley Ruwe, Kaitlin Winter-Eulberg
The prevalence of obesity in the United States
continues to rise (Nielsen Popkin, 2004).
Research indicates a direct relationship between
obesity and consumption of artificially sweetened
beverages (Desai et al., 2008 Forshee et al.,
2005 Frary et al., 2004 Kassem et al., 2003
Nielsen Popkin, 2004). However, much of the
previous research is correlational, not
experimental, and thus causality cannot be
established. The purpose of this study was to
determine the effect of a sugar sweetened
beverage on weight. Rats were randomly assigned
to two groups, water only (H2O) or water and
sugar sweetened beverage (SUG), and had ad
libitum access to laboratory rat chow. Rats were
weighed daily. Food consumption was recorded
daily to determine whether rats in the SUG group
compensated for the additional calories available
in their beverage. We hypothesized that SUG group
rats would gain more weight than H2O group rats
(Messier et al., 2007) and there would be no
dietary compensation by the SUG group rats
(Almiron-Roig et al., 2004 Appleton Blundell,
2007). The implications of this research for
human food and beverage choices are discussed.

• Procedure
• Rats were individually housed and randomly
  assigned to the water-only or soda group.
• Rats were maintined on a 1212 daynight cycle
  with lights on at approximately 0800 hours.
• Rats were given their respective beverages each
  day.
• Rats and their food were weighed daily these
  weights were used as data.
• Cage bedding was changed three times each week.
• The diet manipulation lasted for 30 days.
• Results
• Discussion
• Implications
• Limitations

• Background
• Obesity is a growing epidemic in America and can
  cause serious health complications.
• Changes in beverage consumption provide one
  compelling explanation for the rising prevalence
  of obesity.
• Between 1977 and 2001 consumption of soft drinks
  and other sweet beverages has increased, both in
  frequency and portion sizes (Nielsen, Popkin,
  2004).
• Among high school students 96.3 of girls (Kassem
  et al., 2003) and 96.5 of boys (Kassem Lee,
  2003) consume soda daily.
• In addition to obesity, soft drink consumption
  appears to influence behaviors, Heyerdahl et al.
  (2006) found that adolescents who drank four or
  more glasses of soda each day experienced conduct
  problems.
• Research Question
• Does daily soft drink consumption lead to weight
  gain and a change in eating habits in rats over
  time?
• Independent Variable
• Beverage 100 water versus 75 soft drink 25
  water
• Time Day of the experiment
• Dependent Variables