Concerns about African-American adolescent girls who drink little milk
Acting Director and Research Associate Professor, Maureen L. Storey, Ph.D. and Richard A. Forshee, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, said, "Our study shows how strongly associated age, race, and gender are with what beverages our children consume. Overall, white children and adolescents drink more beverages than their African-American counterparts. The reasons for this are unknown and should be explored further, especially with regard to proper hydration for everyday activity and during strenuous physical activity.
"Beverage choices were notably different depending on race/ethnicity. While young boys and girls of all ethnicities drink more milk than any other beverage, African-American children drink less milk than white or Hispanic children do. Young white boys and girls consume about 1.4 and 1.2 servings of milk per day, whereas young African-American boys and girls drink 1.0 and 0.8 servings per day, respectively. Young Hispanic girls might be considered the most avid milk consumers with few of them eschewing milk entirely--7.4 percent reported drinking no milk. On the other hand, 13-14 percent of young African-American children report drinking no milk.
"It was surprising that African-American adolescent girls drank so few beverages as a whole and so little milk in particular. This is a concern not only for future bone health, but also because other research has shown that calcium –rich dairy products may be important in reducing the risk of hypertension--a serious condition that is more prevalent in African-Americans."
Among younger children, soft drinks are a second or third choice
"Among the beverage alternatives, carbonated soft drinks are the second or third choice of young children, depending on race. On average, young boys and girls drink 6.6 oz. and 6.2 oz. of carbonated soft drinks per day, which represents about 4 percent of total daily energy intake. These data are consistent with previously reported USDA findings. This amount of caloric intake might easily be balanced with even a modest level of physical activity during recess, physical education classes at school, or after-school activity programs.
During adolescence, milk consumption falls, becoming the second most consumed beverage (on a gram basis) following carbonated soft drinks. Older teens tend to drink more carbonated beverages, fruit drinks, and citrus juice, and less fluid milk and non-citrus juice. White adolescent boys, in particular, are heavy consumers of most beverages, including carbonated soft drinks, milk, and fruit drinks; on average, they drink the equivalent of about 1.8 (12 oz.) cans of carbonated soft drinks per day, compared with 1.0 and 1.2 (12 oz.) cans for African-American and Hispanic adolescent boys, respectively."
No link between soda consumption and overweight
"It is important to point out that our study showed no statistically significant association between age- and gender-specific BMI and regular carbonated soft drink consumption, but there is a positive association between BMI and diet carbonated soft drinks. In other words, there was no relationship between obesity and regular soft drink consumption but overweight children drank more diet soft drinks. This analysis suggests that carbonated soft drinks are not solely responsible for the increased numbers of overweight children and adolescents.
The research showed that boys in the 90th percentile of consumption drink 3.7 (12 oz.) cans of regular carbonated soft drinks per day. "While some individuals may consume large amounts of carbonated soft drinks and/or fruit drinks, it does not appear to be the typical consumption pattern. Moreover, the reasons for consuming larger than average amounts of these beverages should be explored, especially among children and adolescents who are engaged in strenuous physical activity.
"Careful monitoring of children's beverage intake is nevertheless warranted because caloric contributions must be balanced with energy expenditure. In addition, consumption of milk should be encouraged through continuation of strong promotional efforts, but most importantly, through parental role models. But policies aimed at curtailing consumption of carbonated soft drinks and fruit drinks are impermanent solutions that will fail to coerce children and adolescents, in particular, to reject soft drinks," they concluded.
The full paper can be purchased (obtained free by press) from the publisher of International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition or go to http://www.biosciencearena.com for a link to the paper.
This research was presented at Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, San Diego, CA, April, 2000 and was supported by an unrestricted research grant from the National Soft Drink Association. In accordance with the policy of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Virginia Tech, the sponsor had no control or input into the design, methodologies, data, analysis, results, conclusions, or the decision to publish this study.
Journal
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition