Australia's obesity crisis could effectively be reversed and 155,000 lives would be saved annually by slashing the amount of sugar in soft drinks, according to a new study.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says around two-thirds of adults and a quarter of our children or overweight or obese.  But the George Institute for Global Health at the University of New South Wales has produced research saying that reducing the sugar energy content of soft drinks would cut Oz's obesity rates and drastically reduce the number of people dealing with obesity-related diseases such as stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney cancer.

"The results are a clear demonstration of the harm sugary drinks are causing," George Institute lead researcher Michelle Crino said in an interview with Fairfax media.  "The reduction would deliver cost savings of $8 Billion and avert at least 155,000 premature deaths, including 47,000 from type 2 diabetes alone."

The research appearing in the medical journal Nutrients also says that cutting sugar in soft drinks would benefit Australia by preventing 70,300 deaths from heart disease, 14,300 deaths from stroke, and 24,100 deaths from breast, bowel cancer, endometrial and kidney cancers - saving 155,000 lives per year.

The Australian Beverages Council is skeptical of the research and says its members have been voluntarily reducing sugar content in drinks without government regulation.  But Ms. Crino believes that "mandatory" is the way to go:  "We found government-imposed legislative scenarios, rather than voluntary pledges, would provide more cost savings and bigger health gains."