Sugar sweetened beverages including soda, juice, iced tea, sports drinks, and energy drinks are not the root cause of the so-called “obesity epidemic” or increasing rates of diabetes. Just like donuts and ice cream didn’t cause these “epidemics”, neither did simply drinking sugar sweetened beverages. There are so many factors involved and it’s completely oversimplifying a complicated matter and ignoring genetics, socioeconomic barriers, and environmental factors.