Speaking of sugar, The New England Journal of Medicine just published three sugar-sweetened beverage studies that are sure to catch the attention of the folks at Coke and Pepsi. Published on the same day, they reached similar (if sometimes qualified) conclusions: sugar sweetened beverages measurably contribute to making us fat.

One study looked at children, another at teens, and the third at adults (ironically, all health professionals). Two studies were randomized controlled tests, while the third used large-scale longitudinal data. All concluded that sugar-sweetened beverages contribute to making us overweight and obese.

We’ve made the sweet life too sweet, adding sugar to most everything and adding fat to our bodies in the process. Evolutionary biologists and others believe that sugar served as a primary signal that items in nature were safe to eat. Today we’ve taken that cue to an extreme, and when you mess with the proverbial evolutionary bull, there’s a good chance you’ll get the horns.