Abstract
Objective
To describe patterns in sweetened beverage consumption by race/ethnicity and sex,
documenting both the amount and types of sweetened beverages consumed; and to examine
the association of sweetened beverage consumption with hyperactivity/inattention symptoms
among middle school students in a single urban school district.
Methods
Middle school students (n = 1649; 47% Hispanic and 38% black, non-Hispanic) from 12
schools, randomly selected out of 27 district schools, completed health behavior surveys
in fall 2011. Students reported quantity and types of sweetened beverages consumed
in the past 24 hours and completed the 5-item Hyperactivity/Inattention subscale of
the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to measure symptoms.
Results
Amount and variety of reported sweetened beverage consumption (including energy drinks)
were greater among boys versus girls and among black and Hispanic versus white students.
Risk of hyperactivity/inattention increased by 14% for each additional sweetened beverage
consumed, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, sex, school lunch eligibility, family
structure, and sugary food consumption. Students reporting consumption of energy drinks
were 66% more likely to be at risk for hyperactivity/inattention after adjusting for
number of drinks, other types of drinks consumed, and other potential confounders.
Conclusions
Results support recommendations to limit consumption of sweetened beverages and to
avoid consumption of energy drinks among children. Interventions to reduce sweetened
beverage consumption should explicitly focus on energy drinks and other emerging sweetened
beverages such as sports and sweetened coffee drinks. More research is needed to understand
the direction of effects and the mechanisms behind the association between sweetened
beverages and hyperactivity/inattention symptoms.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 08, 2015
Accepted:
November 22,
2014
Received:
March 27,
2014
Footnotes
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
