Sugar Sweetened Beverage Consumption among Primary School Students: Influence of the Schools’ Vicinity

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to explore the associations between the characteristics of schools' vicinity and the risk of sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in elementary students. Findings exposed an important variation in student's SSB consumption between schools. Schools with a lower socioeconomic status or in a densely built environment tend to have higher proportion of regular SSB drinkers. These characteristics of the school's vicinity partly explained the variation observed between them. We estimated that a student moving to a school with a higher proportion of SSB drinkers may increase his/her chances by 52% of becoming a daily consumer. Important changes in dietary preferences can occur when children are in contact with a new social environment. Findings also support the idea that dietary behaviors among children result from the complex interactions between biological, social, and environmental factors.

Sugar Consumption Among Private Secondary School Students in Dutsin-Ma Township, Katsina State, Nigeria

“…This finding is in agreement with Delia, Zoran, Donna, Elaine, Thea, Creshelle, Glen and Kenya (2012), who researched on self-reported sugar-sweetened beverage intake among college students and found out that 95 per cent of the students reported more sugared beverage intake in the past month than any other type of sugar and 65 per cent of them reported daily intake of artificial sugar. The finding is also in congruence with the result Alexandre, Pascale, Eric, Benoit, Ramona and Sherri (2016) which found that students' risk of consuming added sugar on a daily basis increased by 72% (MOR = 1.72). Meanwhile, Onyiriuka, Ibeawuchi and Onyiriuka (2013), in their study found out that 60 per cent of the participants consumed fast foods with 76 per cent of them consuming fast foods along with soft drinks.…”

Examining changes in school vending machine beverage availability and sugar-sweetened beverage intake among Canadian adolescents participating in the COMPASS study: a longitudinal assessment of provincial school nutrition policy compliance and effectiveness

“…Schools represent a feasible and practical setting for initiatives to improve youths’ dietary behaviours, given their population coverage, the amount of time youth spend in school, and the fact that students generally eat at least one meal and/or snack during school hours [ 18 ]. Further, school-level differences account for a small, though significant proportion of the variation in adolescents’ SSB consumption [ 19 , 20 ], suggesting that school characteristics may influence students’ SSB intake.…”

Examining associations between school food environment characteristics and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Canadian secondary-school students in the COMPASS study

“…Likewise, certain studies identify associations between SSB consumption and access to food retailers in the school neighbourhood (18,19) and SSB availability in school food outlets (18,20,21) . Further, recent studies have found significant variation in students' SSB consumption between schools (17,(22)(23)(24) . This literature demonstrates the impact that schools may have on adolescents' SSB intake, highlighting a viable opportunity to decrease adolescents' SSB consumption through initiatives seeking to improve the quality of the school food environment.…”