Obesity and Sugar-sweetened Beverages in African-American Preschool Children: A Longitudinal Study

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 1262 - 1268
• Main Authors: Lim, Sungwoo, Zoellner, Jamie M, Lee, Joyce M, Burt, Brian A, Sandretto, Anita M, Sohn, Woosung, Ismail, Amid I, Lepkowski, James M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2009
• Subjects: African Americans; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Beverages; Blacks; Body Mass Index; Carbonated Beverages; Caregivers; child nutrition; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Childrens health; Data collection; dental caries; Dentistry; Dietary Sucrose - adverse effects; eating habits; epidemiological studies; Epidemiology; Female; food frequency questionnaires; Fruit; fruit drinks; Households; Humans; Incidence; Logistic Models; Longitudinal Studies; Low income groups; Male; nutrition information; Nutrition research; Nutrition Surveys; Obesity; Obesity - ethnology; Obesity - etiology; obesity-related diseases; Odds Ratio; Overweight; Overweight - ethnology; Overweight - etiology; Preschool children; Prevalence; Public health; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; soft drinks; Sugar; sugar content; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time Factors; United States; New York; Ann Arbor Michigan; United States > US; Detroit Michigan; Michigan
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1038/oby.2008.656

A representative sample of 365 low‐income African‐American preschool children aged 3–5 years was studied to determine the association between sugar‐sweetened beverage consumption (soda, fruit drinks, and both combined) and overweight and obesity. Children were examined at a dental clinic in 2002–2003 and again after 2 years. Dietary information was collected using the Block Kids Food Frequency Questionnaire. A BMI score was computed from recorded height and weight. Overweight and obesity were defined by national reference age‐sex specific BMI: those with an age‐sex specific BMI ≥85th, but <95th percentile as overweight and those with BMI ≥95th age‐sex specific percentile as obese. The prevalence of overweight was 12.9% in baseline, and increased to 18.7% after 2 years. The prevalence of obesity increased from 10.3 to 20.4% during the same period. Baseline intake of soda and all sugar‐sweetened beverages were positively associated with baseline BMI z‐scores. After adjusting for covariates, additional intake of fruit drinks and all sugar‐sweetened beverages at baseline showed significantly higher odds of incidence of overweight over 2 years. Among a longitudinal cohort of African‐American preschool children, high consumption of sugar‐sweetened beverages was significantly associated with an increased risk for obesity.