Reducing sugar sweetened beverages among youth

Source: Center for Disease and Control

Youth should drink fewer sugar-sweetened beverages and more water and low-fat or fat-free milk, or limited amounts of 100 percent fruit juices. Families, schools, and other institutions need to provide healthy beverage choices. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugars in the diet of U.S. youth. Consuming these beverages increases the intake of calories a factor potentially contributing to obesity among youth nationwide.

Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Obesity among children aged six to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. Among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, obesity increased from 5.0 percent to 18.1 percent. In recent decades, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among children and adolescents has been increasing. Boys aged 12–19 years consume an average of 22.0 ounces of full-calorie soda drink per day—more than twice their daily intake of fluid milk (9.8 ounces); girls consume an average of 14.3 ounces of full-calorie soda and 6.3 ounces of fluid milk per day. In addition, among high school students, nearly two thirds consumed any combination of these beverages on a daily basis, and almost one third of students consumed any combination of these beverages two or more times per day.

What You Can Do – Youth should:

Reduce their consumption of regular soda or pop, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages.

Increase their consumption of water and low-fat or fat-free milk.

Drink limited amounts of 100 percent fruit juices.

To support youth in making healthy beverage choices, families, schools, and other youth-serving institutions should:

Reduce youths’ access to sugar-sweetened beverages to decrease consumption.

Encourage adolescents to drink water and low-fat or fat-free milk, or limited amounts of 100 percent fruit juices, as an option.

Moreover, because youth spend a significant portion of each weekday in school, making sure that healthy beverage choices are available and that less nutritious ones are not is critical. Implementing school policies restricting access to sugar-sweetened beverages is an especially important public health strategy for addressing childhood obesity and improving students’ nutritional health.

Healthy Hometown is working toward a “healthy” Clinton County.

Albany Elementary

students can get no cost fruit and

vegetable snacks

Albany Elementary School will have the option to get fresh fruit or vegetables at no cost for snack on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

For more information please contact April Speck, Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coordinator at 606-387-2051 or april.speck@clinton.kyschools.us