Soft drinks and children

Children are drinking more soft drinks than ever before. An increase in the consumption rates in the past few decades is evident though statistics that show that children (ages 6-11) are now drinking double the amount of soft drinks.

During the same time, reports show that children and adolescent obesity significantly increased.

What led to an increase in soft drinks consumption? Certainly, spending for advertising soft drinks has been on the rise.

It's important because the numbers of fat children are increasing significantly each year. In one study the researchers followed nearly 600 12-year-olds for a couple of years, monitoring their intake of various foods and their weight and height.

Over two years, there was a 10 per cent increase in the level of fatness of the children - quite dramatic really in a short period.

And when they controlled for television viewing (a well-known factor in childhood obesity), physical activity and other dietary factors, soft drinks by themselves added extra risk for obesity.

Actually this beverage do not provide nutrients that are needed by growing children, but do increase the calorie intake.

Obesity risk has been negatively related to consumption of fruit, vegetables and carbohydrate while a positively relationship has been observed with dietary fat, added sugar and soft drink consumption.

Many studies have reported a positive association of obesity with soft drink consumption. One study even reported that ‘drinking three or more soft drinks per day was associated with a 46 % increases in chance of being overweight.
Soft drinks and children