The obsession of the nation with soda, even with just the little 12-ounce cans can become weapon of waistline destruction. The professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise at Virginia Tech University, Brenda Davy, Ph.D., R.D. said that even when it has been widely publicized that it is rather unheathy to consume soda, most people still don't think twice and  drink it anyways. Added to the list of unhealthy over consumption is a glass of lemonade or sweet tea which has it's fair share of blame for the obesity epidemic.

Brenda Davy, Ph.D., R.D., stated, "There are a lot of drinks we would refer to as 'sugar-sweetened beverages' that folks may not think of as sugar-sweetened," Brenda Davy also said: "They'll think of soda, but they may not think of sports drinks. Or sweetened tea. Or sweetened coffee drinks."

Brenda Davy, Ph.D., R.D. and her co-researches developed the Healthy Beverage Intake (HBI), as Brenda Davy described, HBI in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It is to evaluate or estimate the nature of the quality of people's liquid diets. The factors considered by HBI are: water, the number of calories a person drinks and the volume of beverages like milk, soda, and coffee. 

The researchers found out the average American, would receive a grade of 63 out of 100 from the dietary data from more than 16,000 adults. Davy said, "Basically, we're in the D or F range, in terms of grading our beverage intake."

From a typical beverage pattern intake per day that consists of about 8.5 fluid ounces of water, 8 fluid ounces of black coffee, 8.5 fluid ounces of diet soda, 17 ounces of soda, and an 8.5-ounce vanilla latte - the HBI will score 56.

Brenda Davy's HBI will score 100, if a person will intake on a daily basis: 51 fluid ounces of water, 17 fluid ounces of black coffee, 8.5 fluid ounces of green tea, 8.5 fluid ounces of skim milk, and 5 ounces of red wine.