The consumption of sugary drinks can increase the genetic risk of obesity in some people, a study finds.

For people who are genetically predisposed to obesity, drinkinga lot of sugary beverages could make their weight problem worse by heightening the effects of their obesity genes, a new study suggests. "Almost everyone carries some genetic risk of obesity," says Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the HarvardSchool of Public Health and an author on the study. "People who carry a lot of obesity genes have a higher risk.People who drink a lot of soda also have a higher risk of obesity. For people who have both, their risk of obesity is much greater than either factor alone," he says. To come to these conclusions, researchers examined data on 6,934 women from the Nurses' Health Study; 4,423 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study; and 21,740 women from the Women's Genome Health Study. Participants in all three studies were of European ancestry; genetic profiles were available on all of them, which allowed scientists to look at the 32 genes associated with obesity. All participants completed questionnaires on their food and beverage intake over time. Sugar-sweetened beverages included sugary soft drinks, fruitdrinks and lemonade. Not included: 100% fruit juice, iced coffee or iced tea.