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Most teens drinking fewer sports beverages
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Although rates of sports drink consumption among adolescents decreased overall between 2010 and 2015, those who watched more than 2 hours of television daily increased their rates of drinking sports beverages.
“For children engaging in [typical] forms of physical activity such as Little League, high school sports and other forms of recreation or athletics, rehydration with sports drinks is not necessary,” Andrew Adesman, MD, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, told Infectious Diseases in Children. “In general, drinking water is the best way for children and adolescents to rehydrate.”
“The AAP recommends that rehydration with sports drinks should be limited to instances when there is a need for rapid replenishment of carbohydrates and electrolytes in combination with water during periods of prolonged, vigorous sports participation or other intense physical activity,” Adesman added.
To examine how the trends in adolescent consumption of sports drinks have changed over time, the researchers conducted an analysis of data collected from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey. The participants included were nationally representative American high school students who were questioned about their sports drink consumption.
Adesman and colleagues performed multivariable logistic regression to determine the characteristics and health behaviors associated with adolescent sports drink consumption, and the two samples of participants were compared over a period using χ2 tests.
Of the 11,305 participants in the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the 11,113 participants in the 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey, those who consumed these beverages in the past week increased from 2010 (56.0%) to 2015 (57.6%). When all age groups, sexes, race and/or ethnicities and physical activity levels were considered, the researchers observed overall reductions in all categories.
Participants who were non-Hispanic black and children with overweight demonstrated the greatest decrease in consumption of sports drinks, whereas no decrease was observed in children with obesity. One group — children who watched ssmore than 2 hours of television daily — had an increased rate of sports drink consumption. Adesman and colleagues observed that boys, non-Hispanic black children, Hispanics and tobacco users were more likely to report daily consumption of these beverages.
“Pediatricians need to educate teenagers and their parents that water is typically the best way for youth to rehydrate when engaging in sports,” Adesman said. “Sports drinks are another form of sugar-sweetened beverage that have unnecessary calories and no significant advantage for youth.”– by Katherine Bortz
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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