“Your Body Feels Better When You Drink Water”: Parent and School-Age Children’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Cognitions

Abstract

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a leading source of added sugar in the American diet. Further, ingestion of added sugars from SSBs exceeds recommendations. Thus, interventions that effectively reduce SSB consumption are needed. Focus group discussions with parents (n = 37) and school-aged children between the ages of 6 and 11 years (n = 41) from Florida, New Jersey, and West Virginia were led by trained moderators using Social Cognitive Theory as a guide. Trends and themes that emerged from the content analysis of the focus group data indicated that both parents and children felt that limiting SSBs was important to health and weight control. However, parents and children reported consuming an average of 1.85 ± 2.38 SD and 2.13 ± 2.52 SD SSB servings/week, respectively. Parents and children were aware that parent behaviors influenced kids, but parents reported modeling healthy SSB behaviors was difficult. Busy schedules, including more frequent parties and events as children get older, were another barrier to limiting SSBs. Parents were most successful at limiting SSBs when they were not in the house. This qualitative research provides novel insights into parents’ and children’s cognitions (e.g., beliefs, attitudes), barriers, and facilitators related to SSB ingestion. Consideration of these insights during nutrition intervention development has the potential to improve intervention effectiveness in reducing SSB intake.

Parental Concerns about Child and Adolescent Caffeinated Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake and Perceived Barriers to Reducing Consumption

“…In several cases, CSSBs were available because parents or other family members consumed these beverages. This finding is supported by a large body of research underscoring the importance of caregivers' modeling in influencing child dietary behaviors [20,25]. Most parents acknowledged the contribution of their own CSSB consumption to their child's intake, and several reported feeling guilt for introducing CSSBs and/or making them available in the home.…”

“…Parental awareness of negative health effects associated with excessive sugar intake has been documented previously [20], specifically with regard to weight gain [21]. Concern regarding child hyperactivity and sleep problems resulting from SSB intake (not specific to CSSBs) have also been previously reported [20].…”

Hedonic drinking engages a supraspinal inhibition of thermal nociception in adult rats

“…Conversely, the extinction of conditioned voluntary water consumption, and the failure to ingest orally perfused water could represent the development of an aversion to the previously neutral water in parallel to the learned preference for sucrose. Given the positive association between the preference for sweet drinks and the frequency of their consumption [33] our findings have implications for strategies to reduce the consumption of sugarsweetened beverages, particularly in young children and adolescents [27].…”

From biology to behavior: a cross‐disciplinary seminar series surrounding added sugar and low‐calorie sweetener consumption

“…The food industry is responding to consumer desire to lower added sugar, while maintaining product palatability, but from the standpoint of a consumer packaged goods company, there are numerous issues to consider. These include guidance to reduce added sugar from public health organizations , proposed changes to the nutrition facts panel, proposed policies to reduce added sugar intake such as SSB taxes , and consumer desire to reduce added sugar intake , all reiterating the need to lower product sugar content. However, while there is significant pressure to reduce sugar and while consumers express a desire to avoid artificial sweeteners, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) 2017 Food and Health survey revealed that ‘taste’ remains a key driver of food selection and consumer purchasing decisions .…”