Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Is Positively Associated with Baseline Triglyceride Concentrations, and Changes in Intake Are Inversely Associated with Changes in HDL Cholesterol over 12 Months in a Multi-Ethnic Sample of Children.
BACKGROUND
Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked to greater cardiometabolic risk in adults. Although longitudinal evidence is sparse among children, SSB intake reduction is targeted to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in this group.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated characteristics associated with consumption of SSBs in a multi-ethnic sample of children/adolescents and measured cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between SSB intake and plasma HDL cholesterol and triglycerides (TGs) over 12 mo.


METHODS
In a diverse cohort of children aged 8-15 y, cross-sectional associations (n = 613) between baseline SSB intake and blood lipid concentrations and longitudinal associations (n = 380) between mean SSB intake, changes in SSB intake, and lipid changes over 12 mo were assessed with multivariable linear regression.


RESULTS
Greater SSB intake was associated with lower socioeconomic status, higher total energy intake, lower fruit/vegetable intake, and more sedentary time. In cross-sectional analysis, greater SSB intake was associated with higher plasma TG concentrations among consumers (62.4, 65.3, and 71.6 mg/dL in children who consumed >0 but <2, ≥2 but <7, and ≥7 servings/wk, respectively; P-trend: 0.03); plasma HDL cholesterol showed no cross-sectional association. In the longitudinal analysis, mean SSB intake over 12 mo was not associated with lipid changes; however, the 12-mo increase in plasma HDL-cholesterol concentration was greater among children who decreased their intake by ≥1 serving/wk (4.6 ± 0.8 mg/dL) compared with children whose intake stayed the same (2.0 ± 0.8 mg/dL) or increased (1.5 ± 0.8 mg/dL; P = 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
In a multi-ethnic sample of children, intake of SSBs was positively associated with TG concentrations among consumers, and changes in SSB intake were inversely associated with HDL cholesterol concentration changes over 12 mo. Further research in large diverse samples of children is needed to study the public health implications of reducing SSB intake among children of different racial/ethnic groups. The Daily D Health Study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01537809.
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, maria.vanrompay@tufts.edu.
Maria I
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4878-0881
MI
Van Rompay
Nutritional Epidemiology Program, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, and.
Nicola M
NM
McKeown
MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and.
Elizabeth
E
Goodman
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA;
Misha
M
Eliasziw
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA;
Virginia R
VR
Chomitz
Divisions of Adolescent Medicine and Endocrinology, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI.
Catherine M
CM
Gordon
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Christina D
CD
Economos
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Jennifer M
JM
Sacheck
D000293:Adolescent; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D001628:Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015228:Hypertriglyceridemia / Q000097:blood / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D064427:Nutritive Sweeteners / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D064427:Nutritive Sweeteners; D014280:Triglycerides
child; dyslipidemias; ethnic groups; health status disparities; sweetening agents