Sugary Drink Consumption Still High, Says CDC

02.28.2016

Nearly one in three adults had at least one drink per day

by Parker Brown
Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Three in 10 American adults reported consuming sugary drinks at least once a day, according to data released by the CDC.

Researchers examined data from 2013 from 23 states and the District of Columbia. They found that sugar-sweetened beverage intake was highest among adults in Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia (47.5%, 45.5%, and 45.2%, respectively), according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which was posted online on Friday. The report was led by Sohyun Park, PhD, at the CDC.

The data were drawn from the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey that showed that intake was higher among 18-24 year olds (43.3%) than among older adults. Intake was also higher among men (34.1%), blacks (39.9%), unemployed people (34.4%), and those with less than a high school education (42.4%), according to the report. The questions about sugary drink intake were part of an optional module of the survey, and not all states chose to ask about it.

The overall age-adjusted prevalence of sugary drinks — including sodas, fruit drinks, sports or energy drinks, and sweet teas — was 30.1%; those in Vermont consumed the fewest such drinks (18.0%). The states with the highest prevalence of adults who consumed at least one beverage daily were Oklahoma (66.4%) and West Virginia (63.8%).

Consumption of sugary drinks is down since 2009-2010, when the data showed that 51% of adults consumed at least one sugary drink. In 2013, consumption was highest in southern states.

“Many beverages that have been promoted as healthy are, in fact, loaded with too much sugar,” wrote the American Heart Association in a statement. “Sweet tea, fruit drinks, sports drinks as well as regular sodas often contain more sugar than we recommend in one day for the average adult, yet they are consumed by children and adults alike on top of other sugary foods.”

The new dietary guidelines recommend that the daily intake of calories from added sugars doesn’t exceed 10% of total calories in the diet, but it’s not clear how those guidelines will influence consumption. Recent attempts to cut consumption by implementing a sugar tax have worked in some places, but opposition to the tax by industry and others remains fierce.

Park and colleagues wrote that a significant limitation to the data was that they were self-reported. In addition, the findings might not be generalizable to the other states in the U.S. and only frequency of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was studied, and not volume.

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