Sugar-sweetened beverages, serum uric acid, and blood pressure in adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, a significant source of dietary fructose, is associated with higher serum uric acid levels and blood pressure in adolescents.


METHODS
We analyzed cross-sectional data from 4867 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004. Dietary data were assessed from 24-hour dietary recall interviews. Sugar-sweetened beverages included fruit drinks, sports drinks, soda, and sweetened coffee or tea. We used multivariate linear regression to evaluate the association of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with serum uric acid and with blood pressure.


RESULTS
Adolescents who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages tended to be older and male. In the adjusted model, serum uric acid increased by 0.18 mg/dL and systolic blood pressure z-score increased by 0.17 from the lowest to the highest category of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (P for trend, .01 and .03, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
These results from a nationally representative sample of US adolescents indicate that higher sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with higher serum uric acid levels and systolic blood pressure, which may lead to downstream adverse health outcomes.
Nguyen
Stephanie
S
Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. nguyens@peds.ucsf.edu
Choi
Hyon K
HK
Lustig
Robert H
RH
Hsu
Chi-yuan
CY
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American; D001628:Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005632:Fructose / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood*
D013549:Sweetening Agents; D014527:Uric Acid; D005632:Fructose