A new study brings good news and bad news as well as the number of children drinking soda dropped while the teens' soda consumption went up by eight percent in California.
Dr. Susan Babey, lead author of the study and a senior research scientist of UCLA Center for Health Policy, and her colleagues surveyed more than 40,000 California households with participants between age 2 and 17. They were able to give a comprehensive look of the soda consumption of sugary drinks with consumption patterns from 2005 to 2007 and 2011 to 2012.
Their findings revealed a remarkable decline in the number of young children consuming sugary beverages daily during the seven-year period. When compared with the reporting period of 2005 to 2007, only 19 percent among the youth aged 2 to 5 years and 32 percent among those from 6 to 11 years old consume sugary beverages every day in 2011 and 2012, showing a decline of 30 percent and 32 percent .
The greatest concern, however, is the significant increase among the largest consumers of sugary beverages. These are the teens with age between 12 and 17. Presently, 65 percent of the teens in California drink sugary beverages every day, which is eight percent up from 2005 to 2007. Meanwhile, 23 percent consume sports and energy drinks every day.
"California has made real progress in reducing the consumption of sugary beverages among young children," Babey said in a press release. "But teens are in trouble. Soda or sports drinks should be an occasional treat, not a daily habit. If this trend isn't reversed, there may be costly consequences for teens, their families and the health care system in the form of increased obesity and diabetes."
The study is titled Still Bubbling Over: California Adolescents Drinking More Soda and Other Sugar-Sweetened Beverages.
