Children and adolescents across the world consumed on average 23% more sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) in 2018 than they did in 1990, show the results of a study published in The BMJ today.
Over the same period, a corresponding rise was seen in the prevalence of obesity among young people.
Unhealthy diets, especially intake of sugar sweetened beverages, play a crucial role in obesity. Although tracking the consumption of these drinks by children and adolescents is essential to understanding their impact on disease and the effectiveness of policies to control their consumption, recent national estimates of young people's intake are unavailable for most countries.
To address this, researchers used data collected for the Global Dietary Database, which incorporated over 1,200 national and subnational dietary surveys representing 185 countries, and from which 450 surveys form 118 countries included data on SSB intakes.
Data were analysed for children and adolescents aged 3-19 years in 185 countries between 1990 and 2018 and grouped by age, sex, parental education, and rural or urban residence. Mathematical modelling was used to estimate the average consumption of SSBs for each group.
SSBs were defined as any beverage with added sugars and at least 209 kJ (50 kcal) per 237 g serving. These included commercial or homemade beverages, soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, punch and lemonade, but excluded 100% fruit and vegetable juices, non-caloric artificially sweetened drinks, and sweetened milk.
The results show that intakes of SSBs among children and adolescents increased by an average of 23% (0.68 servings/week) from 1990 to 2018, with the largest increases in sub-Saharan Africa (2.17 servings/week).
In 2018, the average global intake was 3.6 standard servings per week, ranging from 1.3 in south Asia to 9.1 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet 56 (30%) of the 185 countries included in the analysis - home to 238 million children and adolescents or 10.4% of the global population of young people - had an average SSB intake of 7 or more servings/week.
Globally, SSB intakes were higher in older versus younger children and adolescents, those resident in urban versus rural areas, and those of parents with higher versus lower education, with variations by world region.
The increase in intake of SSBs among children and adolescents between 1990 and 2018 was nearly twice the increase seen among adults over the same period, note the authors, who say measures specifically targeting marketing of SSBs to children and adolescents are critical.
They acknowledge some limitations that could have affected the accuracy of estimates, such as the limited availability of dietary survey data (particularly for lower income nations in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) and time periods, and the potential for underreporting or overreporting by relying on self-reported survey data.
But they say overall their findings "should be taken as the best currently available, but nonetheless imperfect, estimates of SSB intake worldwide."
"Policies and approaches at both a national level and a more targeted level are needed to reduce intakes of SSBs among young people worldwide, highlighting the larger intakes across all education levels in urban and rural areas in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the growing problem of SSBs for public health in sub- Saharan Africa," they write.
"Our findings are intended to inform current and future policies to curb SSB intakes, adding to the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," they add.
