Beverage consumption patterns in elementary school aged children across a two-year period.
OBJECTIVE
Existing data was reexamined to determine changes in beverage consumption and associations between beverages consumed and BMI Z-score in children (n = 164) across two years.


METHODS
Beverages (milk, 100% juice, diet soda or sugar sweetened) and total caloric intake were calculated from a 24-hour diet recall. Height and weight were measured to calculate BMI. Subjects were categorized by BMI Z-score as normal weight, overweight, gained weight and lost weight. Data was collected at baseline and year 2.


RESULTS
Significant decreases in milk and increases in diet soda were found over two years in all subjects and normal weight, whereas overweight had a significant increase in diet soda consumption and a decrease in milk consumption that did not reach significance. Change in milk consumption was inversely correlated with sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Increases in diet soda consumption were significantly greater for overweight and subjects who gained weight as compared to normal weight subjects. Baseline BMI Z-score and year 2 diet soda consumption predicted 83.1% of the variance in year 2 BMI Z-score.


CONCLUSIONS
Shifts in beverage consumption were found in this convenient sample across two years. Diet soda consumption was the only type of beverage associated with year 2 BMI Z-score, and consumption was greater in overweight subjects and subjects who gained weight as compared to normal weight subjects at two years. Additional longitudinal data examining associations between beverage consumption and BMI is needed in children and adolescents, as consumption of regular and diet soda has become more of a social norm.
Blum
Janet Whatley
JW
Human Performance Laboratory, University of Nebraska-Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska, USA. jwblum@usm.maine.edu
Jacobsen
Dennis J
DJ
Donnelly
Joseph E
JE
D000818:Animals; D001628:Beverages / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002253:Carbonated Beverages / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008892:Milk / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology