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Sugar-sweetened beverages tied to overall sugar intake, poor cardiometabolic measures
Children who consume sugar-sweetened beverages have an overall increased sugar intake, and those who consume sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages had a worse cardiometabolic measures compared with children who do not consume sweetened beverages, researchers reported.
Paraskevi Seferidi, a research assistant and PhD student in the department of primary care and public health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, and colleagues evaluated data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (2008-2009 to 2011-2012) on 1,687 children to determine to associations between sugar-sweetened beverage and artificially sweetened beverage intake with energy and sugar intake and cardiometabolic measures.
Overall, 43% of all participants consumed both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, 10% did not consume any, 30% consumed sugar-sweetened beverages only and 18% consumed only artificially sweetened beverages.
Compared with participants who did not consume sweetened beverages, participants who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages had higher intakes of energy (91 kcal), overall sugar (6.1%) and sugar from beverages (5.4%). Artificially sweetened beverages were not associated with higher overall sugar intake but was associated with higher sugar intake from solid foods (1.7%).
Among girls, there were positive associations between sugar-sweetened beverages and energy, overall and from beverages. Among boys, artificially sweetened beverages and sugar intake from solid foods were associated.
Intakes of energy from all sources and higher intakes of sugar overall and from beverages were increased when participants switched from no consumption to sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Energy from beverages, total sugar and sugar from beverages were decreased when participants switched from no consumption to artificially sweetened beverage consumption.
Higher BMI was associated with consumption of sweetened beverages, but the associations did not remain significant after adjustment for demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Glucose levels were higher among participants who consumed sweetened beverages compared with those who did not.
No association was found between sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverage consumption with HbA1c, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.
“This nationally representative study of children aged 4 to 18 years has found that [sugar-sweetened beverages] contributed toward higher total sugar intake, while [artificially sweetened beverages] have not,” the researchers wrote. “However, both [sugar-sweetened beverages] and [artificially sweetened beverages] were related to a less healthy cardiometabolic profile. Policy should focus on minimizing consumption of sweetened drinks and replacing them with unsweetened alternatives. The study adds to a growing evidence base that [artificially sweetened beverages], like [sugar-sweetened beverages], may be linked to poorer cardiometabolic health in children.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.