TUESDAY, April 23, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Children who do not drink water have a higher intake of calories from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), according to a study published online April 22 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Asher Y. Rosinger, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and colleagues used data from the 2011 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine the number of calories and percentage of energy intake from SSBs by water intake status. Data were included for 8,400 children and young adults.
Within all age and racial/ethnic groups, the researchers found variation in the number of total kilocalories and percentage of total energy intake from SSBs by water intake status. Overall, 79.7 percent of children reported drinking plain water on a given day. Among participants aged 2 to 19 years, no water intake correlated with intake of 92.9 kcal and 4.5 percent more calories from SSBs after adjustment for sociodemographic variables. Statistically significant interactions were seen for water intake status with race/ethnicity and age. Caloric intake from SSBs was significantly higher if no water intake was reported for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic children and among all age categories. There was variation in the magnitude of these differences by group.
“Our study demonstrates that U.S. children and young adults should drink water every day to help avoid excess caloric and sugar intake,” the authors write.
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