Soft drink consumption in Sri Lankan adolescents

Abstract

Objective: To determine the factors associated with sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption in adolescents from Sri Lanka. Design: A cross-sectional study where the data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Conclusions: The majority of adolescents in this sample consumed sugar-sweetened beverages once weekly or more often. It was evident that some sociodemographic factors were associated with the consumption of these drinks. Keywords Soft drinks Adolescents Sri LankaEvidence indicates that the consumption of soft drinks is increasing worldwide. Compared with 2009, the global consumption of soft drinks increased by 4 % in 2010 with a per capita consumption of 81 litres. The highest growth in the soft drinks market in the year 2010 was observed in Asia, with India and China reporting growth rates of 16 % and 14 % respectively (1) . Soft drink consumption varies according to age, and particularly the consumption of sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages is highest during adolescence (2) . Wang et al.(3) reported that on any given day, 84 % of American adolescents consume sugar-sweetened beverages and the average intake is 30 oz/d. Bere et al. (4) found that 63 % of Norwegian adolescents consume sugar-sweetened carbonated soft drinks twice weekly or more. Owing to their high content of added sugar, soft drinks contribute a significant proportion of the daily energy intake in adolescents. It has been reported that sweetened soft drinks accounted for 13 % of the daily energy intake in American adolescents and of this 55 % came from sugarsweetened carbonated drinks (3)

Using Two Different Approaches to Assess Dietary Patterns: Hypothesis-Driven and Data-Driven Analysis

“…Despite Brazil’s great biodiversity, a low intake of vegetables was observed, since, for the factor analysis, all reported vegetables had to be grouped into one item that was present only in the “Dual Diet”. These results are in agreement with those found in the literature, which suggest an over-consumption of cookies, candies, snacks and soft drinks, increasing the intake of sugars and saturated fats by adolescents and lower intake of fruits and vegetables, resulting in higher in energy density diets, lower in fiber [36,40,41,42,43,44]. In addition, a multicentric study showed the association between low whole grain intake with worse dietary quality and their consequence on the nutritional status among adolescents from the HELENA study [45].…”

Fluid intake from beverages across age groups: a systematic review

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“…A recent research with adolescents of 17 years of age in 65 schools states that nearly 82% of the adolescents consume sugar-sweetened soft drinks once weekly or more often while 2% were daily consumers. Seventy-seven percent and 48% consumed sugar-sweetened carbonated drinks and sugar-sweetened fruit drinks once weekly or more often, respectively [8]. A more recent study revealed that although most of the Sri Lankan diabetes patients restrict sugar intake, they consume improper sugar alternatives (i.e., dates) in normal portion or in higher amounts without restriction.…”