By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Research - Not sweet: Too much pop and other sugary drinks make American children fat, say nutritionists at Cornell University.

Children who drank more than 12 ounces of sweetened drinks a day gained significantly more weight than children who drank less than six ounces - because they didn't reduce the food they ate to make up for the additional calories in the drinks.

Researchers followed 30 children for five a days a week for two months for the study, the first to monitor children's daily sweetened drink and food consumption for that long.

The findings were published in the June issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

Sweetened drinks were defined as pop, fruit punch, bottled tea or drinks made from fruit-flavored powders.

Among their findings:

• Children who drank more than 16 ounces of sweetened drinks drank 4 fewer ounces of milk a day than children who avoided sweetened drinks and got less phosphorus, protein, magnesium, calcium and vitamin A.

• Children consuming sweetened drinks took in 244 more calories than on days when they skipped the beverages.

• Over the two months of the study, children who drank more than 16 ounces of sweetened drinks a day gained 2.5 pounds, compared to a 0.7 to 1-pound gain in children who drank 6 to 16 ounces of sweetened drinks.

Hot news

More study: Childhood obesity, diabetes and cardiology are the most underfunded areas of research, top pediatrics researchers say in a new survey.

The survey by the National Association of Children's Hospital and Related Institutions found that 44 percent of respondents believed obesity/diabetes to be the most underfunded area of pediatric clinical research, followed by cardiology.

Respondents included 76 senior researchers from more than 60 hospitals.

Help wanted

Coaches: Girls on the Run needs women to volunteer as coaches or assistant coaches to help girls 8 to 12 train to run a 3.1-mile race. Volunteers must attend one training session Aug. 14, 16 or 30 and Sept. 6. Information: 731-0089 or e-mail melgotr@aol.com.

Tips

Splash: Try this advice from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons to prevent swimming injuries:

• Warm up and stretch before swimming.

• Learn to swim and don't swim alone. Inexperienced swimmers should wear a lifejacket.

• Don't swim if cold, tired or overheated.

• Don't dive in shallow water or if you can't see the bottom.

• Dive only off the end (not the middle or side) of the diving board. Swim out of the way immediately for the next diver.

Siting

Click: Visit www.skiingauthority.com for tips, tricks and resources on water skiing.

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Contact Peggy O'Farrell by phone, 768-8510; fax, 768-8330, or e-mail, pofarrell@enquirer.com