Worrying are the findings of a study, according to which children and teenagers consumed 23% more sugary drinks (soft drinks with sugar) in 2018 compared to 1990, as found by a global analysis of the eating habits of young people from 185 countries.
The study used data from the World Food Database to look at trends in sugary drink intake among children and youth aged three to 19 from 1990 to 2018. Sugary drinks were defined as all drinks with added sugars and at least 50 calories per 237 gram serving. This includes soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sugary fruit drinks. Excluded from the research were 100% fruit juices, soft drinks with artificial sweeteners but no calories and milks with sugar.
According to the research published in the journal “The BMJ”, teenagers and city dwellers had a higher rate of consumption. Children and adolescents were also found to have almost double the total intake of adults.
Young people’s consumption of sugary drinks varies by region of the world, with a global average of 3.6 servings per week. The range was from 1.3 servings per week in southern Asia to 9.1 servings in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Children and adolescents in 56 countries, representing 238 million young people or 10% of the world’s youth population, consumed an average of seven or more servings per week. Among the countries with the highest intake of sugary drinks by children and youth in 2018 were Mexico (10.1 servings per week), Uganda (6.9), Pakistan (6.4), South Africa (6 ,2) and the USA (6.2). Looking at trends from 1990 to 2018, the region with the largest increase in consumption among young people was sub-Saharan Africa, where average weekly servings increased by 106%, or 2.17 servings per week.
“Sugar-sweetened beverages increase body weight and obesity risk, so even though children don’t often develop diabetes or heart disease when they’re young, they can have significant effects later in life,” says the study’s first author, Laura Lara- Castor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.
The authors acknowledge some limitations to the study, such as the limited availability of data particularly for lower-income countries in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and the potential for under- or over-reporting of data by participants.
Read the scientific publication here.
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