Background: The prevalence of overweight and obese individuals has dramatically risen over the past 30 years and represents a major threat to public health. Sugars consumed in liquid form (i.e. SSBs) have been targeted as a prominent contributor towards obesity. Pooled analyses of acute preload trials that have assessed food intake as the primary outcome suggest that liquid calories from sugars are more poorly compensated than solid calories. Though tempting, results from these acute studies should not be extrapolated to infer that liquid energy sources lead to weight gain over the long term. A study of long-term randomized controlled trials by Kaiser et al. found that when adults were required to consume sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) as an additional source of energy, dose-dependent weight gain was observed. However, this weight gain was far less than half the amount one would have predicted to be gained using a mathematical model. This suggests that over extended periods of time, majority of the energy consumed as SSBs is indeed compensated for.