Pattern of beverage consumption and long-term association with body-weight status in German adolescents – results from the DONALD study

Abstract

In the present study the relationship between the consumption of different beverage groups and body-weight status in 5 years of study participation in German adolescents was investigated. We used anthropometric and dietary data from 3 d weighed records of 244 subjects between 9 and 18 years of age participating in the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study. Only subjects with at least four out of six possible weighed dietary records were considered. A repeated-measures regression model (PROC MIXED) was used to analyse the effect of beverage consumption on body-weight status. BMI standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS) and body fat percentage (%BF) were chosen as the dependent variables. In boys, energetic beverage consumption was not associated with BMI-SDS or %BF, neither cross-sectionally nor prospectively. In girls, baseline consumption of energetic beverages did not predict baseline BMI-SDS, baseline %BF, or change in either variable over the study period. However, an increase in energetic beverage consumption over the study period was associated with an increase in BMI-SDS (þ 0.070 SDS/MJ increase in energetic beverage consumption; P¼0·01). Separate consideration of regular soft drinks and fruit juices revealed that, in girls, BMI-SDS increased with increased fruit juice consumption (þ 0·096 SDS/MJ increase in fruit juice consumption; P¼ 0·01), and to a lesser extent with regular soft drink consumption (þ 0·055 SDS/MJ increase in regular soft drink consumption; P¼0·08). In conclusion, these results suggest that an increase in energetic beverage consumption may result in weight gain, at least in adolescent girls.

Diet and body fat in adolescence and early adulthood: a systematic review of longitudinal studies

“…Four studies included only females 10,[12][13][14] . The age at baseline ranged from two 15 to 18 years old 16,17 . Follow-up had a minimal duration of two years 11,18,19 and maximum of 13 years 15,20 .…”

“…by six studies 10,12,19,[21][22][23] , specific food (sugar-sweetened beverages, soft drink, fast food, etc.) by seven 11,[16][17][18][24][25][26] , macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat) by three 15,27,28 , total energy intake by one 29 , dietary index by one 13 and DP by three investigations 14,20,30 . The tools used for estimating food consumption were the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in ten studies [10][11][12]19,22,25,26,[28][29][30] , food record (FR) in nine [14][15][16][17]20,21,23,27 and 24-hour recall (R24h) in three studies 12,18,24 .…”

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and central and total adiposity in older children: a prospective study accounting for dietary reporting errors

“…From a life-course approach, a key developmental period for targeted obesity prevention efforts regarding beverage intake may be among older children, since secular trend data indicate that the largest increases in SSB consumption have occurred in this age group (20) . The seminal work by Ludwig et al provided the first evidence supporting the relationship between SSB intake and excess weight gain in late childhood (23) , replicated in some studies (15,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28) , but not others (29)(30)(31) . Methodological differences including small sample sizes, lack of repeated measures, consideration of dietary reporting errors and adjustment for total energy may partly account for these inconsistent results.…”

Soft drinks: time trends and correlates in twenty-four European countries. A cross-national study using the DAFNE (Data Food Networking) databank

“…In Europe, publications on the consumption of soft drinks make use of data collected through studies undertaken in specific countries, using various methodologies and mainly addressing children and adolescents (10)(11)(12) . Few attempts have been made to compare the consumption of soft drinks among various European countries (13,14) .…”