According to a latest report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one fourth or 24% of students drank soda, down from 29% in 2009. The study was a part of the survey termed Analysis of the National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study (NYPANS) conducted by CDC.
Results showed that daily consumption of regular soda or pop, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages is still prevalent in this population—especially among male students and black students. But it has decreased since the previous year. It is known that sugared beverages are the largest source of added sugars in the diets of U.S. youth, and a major reason for their youth obesity epidemic.
Most soda marketers target teenagers. According to AdDataExpress, Coca-Cola’s target audience includes ages 12-54, with Latinos as a secondary target. Meanwhile Pepsi is narrowing its sales pitch for regular Pepsi-Cola to soda drinkers younger than 25, Latinos, African-Americans, and sports fans, according to Pepsi SVP & CMO. Separate campaigns target African-American mom. Dr. Pepper, owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. also targets from ages 12 to 34. And a separate campaign targets Latino Adults, aged 18-34.
The report recommends decreasing the number of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed by high school students can improve their diet and help reduce their risk of obesity. The report further shows 16.1% drank a can, bottle, or glass of a sports drink daily and 16.9% drank a can, bottle, or glass of another sugar-sweetened beverage daily (e.g., lemonade, sweetened tea or coffee drinks, flavored milk, Snapple, or Sunny Delight, but not including soda or pop, sports drinks, energy drinks, or 100% fruit juice).
Additionally 62.8% drank any combination of regular soda or pop, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages one or more times per day and 32.9% drank any combination of these beverages two or more times per day.
Also Male students were more likely than female students and black students were more likely than both white and Hispanic students to drink regular soda or pop, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages daily.
For the study students were given anonymous, self-administered questionnaire in their classrooms during a regular class period during the spring of 2010. Data from 11,429 students were available for analysis. The school response rate was 82%, the student response rate was 88%, and the overall response rate was 73%. The findings were published in the June 17 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The numbers have come down and study's lead author, Nancy Bener, a health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “We were very pleased to see that.” But one-quarter of high school students is still too high of a number, because consumption of sugary drinks is considered a major public health problem.
A study of Massachusetts schoolchildren found that for each additional sweet drink per day, the odds of obesity increased 60 percent. Many schools stopped selling soda or artificial juice to students in light of those findings, but experts think that's not enough. “Getting them out of the schools doesn't solve the problem completely because a lot of these drinks are consumed in the home,” Bener said.
A 2010 study in the journal, Diabetes Care found daily soda drinkers were 25 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Too much caffeine has also been associated with bone loss, in addition to insomnia, high blood pressure and headaches.
The authors said its “Critical to involve families, the media, and other institutions that interact with adolescents to increase their awareness of possible detrimental health effects and discourage their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.”
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