Friday, August 17, 2012

U.S. Kids Drinking More Diet Beverages

The number of U.S. children who consume artificially sweetened beverages has doubled in the past decade, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers at the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University conducted a study to assess recent national trends in low-calorie and no-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) consumption among children and other demographic subgroups in the United States.

They examined NHANES data collected in five 2-year cycles from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008. Consumption of foods and beverages with LCSs was estimated by using one 24-hour dietary recall. Estimates of the proportion of the population consuming foods and beverages containing LCSs (prevalence of consumption) were weighted to obtain nationally representative results. Trends in prevalence of LCS consumption and mean intake of beverages sweetened with LCSs were tested by using chi-square tests for trend and F tests.

They found in 2007-2008, the percentage of children and adults consuming foods and beverages containing LCSs increased. The prevalence of consuming beverages with LCSs increased from 6.1% to 12.5% among children and from 18.7% to 24.1% among adults. Increases in the prevalence of consumption of calorie-containing beverages with LCSs were observed among all weight, age, socioeconomic, and race-ethnicity subgroups in both children and adults. However, little change in consumption of no-calorie beverages with LCSs or LCS-containing foods was found.

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