Study: college students regularly consume sweetened beverages

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 27, 2006  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. -- College students drink substantial amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages, and targeting students to reduce their consumption might help prevent obesity, according to results of a study by researchers at the University of Arkansas published in the October issue of the journal Obesity.

Researchers said young adults consume 20 percent of their total energy from added sweeteners, the majority of which are from sodas and fruit drinks.

Of 265 students surveyed, most said they had consumed beverages sweetened with sugar in the past month, with soda the most common drink consumed from a list including sodas, fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened ice tea.

Black undergraduates reported higher intakes than whites, with 91 percent reporting drinking sugar-sweetened fruit drinks in the past month and half reporting daily consumption. Men were more likely than women to consume some form of sweetened beverage daily.

Obesity rates have "escalated dramatically" in this age group, the researchers said, noting that 35 percent of the nearly 15 million young adults enrolled in college in the United States are overweight or obese.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning