Association between sweet drink intake and adiposity in Danish children participating in a long‐term intervention study

Abstract

We observed associations between intake of sweet drinks and soft drinks and change in skin-fold thickness in a group of Danish children. However, as the associations did not remain significant when multiple testing was considered or was only significant among children from the intervention group, the results do not confirm or refute the direct association reported in previous studies.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Obesity Risk in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Analysis on How Methodological Quality May Influence Conclusions

“…12,13,25,29,40,46 Heterogeneity in SSB Definition. In the absence of a consensus for a definition of SSBs, some studies with Neutral quality rating limited their analysis to sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages, 40,41 most included all beverages with added sugar, 12,13,[25][26][27][28][35][36][37][38][39][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] while others have included beverages with added as well as natural sugar (ie, fruit juice). In two studies, 24,29 SSBs were not differentiated from artificially sweetened beverages during the measures or analysis; therefore, the specific effect of SSBs could not be isolated.…”

“…12,13,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] The methodological issues noted were mostly due to the complexity of assessing and measuring dietary intake. Because the majority of these studies were not designed to investigate the influence of SSB consumption on adiposity, the dietary tools used to collect data on SSB consumption were not optimal.…”

“…53 Particularly in studies looking at the relationship between food consumption and excess weight gain, people who gained more weight may be more likely to be lost to follow up, weakening the association between the exposure and the outcome of interest. In our analysis, six studies 29,30,37,39,42,48 were identified with such a potential selection bias.…”

“…Five types of dietary intake measurements were used in the included studies: food records (weighed or not), 27,28,30,[37][38][39]45 24-hour recalls (single or multiple), 24,26,43,44,47 interview by a dietitian, 42 food frequency questionnaires, 41,48 and isolated questions in general questionnaires or interview. 12,13,25,29,35,36,40,46 Exposure measurement was problematic in nine studies 12,13,25,26,29,40,43,44,46 out of 23.…”

“…Among the 32 studies identified to answer our research question, 12 concluded that SSB consumption was associated with an increased risk of obesity in children or adolescents [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and 13 found mixed results [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] ; for example, increase in girls but not in boys, among overweight children but not normal-weight children, or influence on body mass index (BMI) z score but not body fat percentage. Seven found no association 12,13,[44][45][46][47][48] between SSB consumption and risk of obesity.…”