Over the past ten years children have, believe it or not, cut back on their consumption of sugary drinks, Reuters reported.
According to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children were getting 68 fewer calories from sweet beverages than in 2000. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study also claimed that both adults and children are drinking less sugar during mealtimes.
An earlier study showed that between the years of 1999 and 2009 consumption of sugary drinks, especially soda, declined in both adults and children, according to lead author Dr. Brian Kit of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics in Rockville, Maryland.
Kit said he did not find any corresponding decrease in obesity rates.
"During our 12-year study duration, obesity prevalence, although high, has largely remained stable," he said.
The reason this has not been investigated, but it has been speculated that Americans could either be getting more calories somewhere else or exercising less.
Kit and his team examined responses to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, which consist of physical examinations and questions about diet and other health-related issues. About 8,500 people were asked what they had eaten in the past 24 hours. The studies that they reviewed were from between 2000 and 2008, they also studied responses from 2010,
By 2010 children ages two to 19 ingested about 155 calories a day from sugary drinks, 68 calories less than in 2000. Adults drank about 151 calories, which was down by 45.
Researchers have classified "sugary drinks" as "regular soda, fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sugar-sweetened coffees or teas," according to Reuters. The category does not include drinks that are artificially sweetened.
"These results are also consistent with industry figures that indicate a steady reduction in soda intake among Americans," said Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University. "That's good news."
Nestle added that there are still changes that should be made in order to really bring down the nation's consumption of sweet beverages.
"It would be even better news if soda companies weren't trying so hard to make up for the shortfall by marketing harder to minorities, low-income groups and low-income people in developing countries - the very people most at risk for obesity and related conditions," she said.
