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Review Articles
Interventions
Obesity and overweight among children and youth is an important public health issue(1). In Europe, between 9·4 and 26·4 % of boys and between 6·4 and 15·9 % of girls aged 10-15 years are overweight or obese(2). In the USA, among adolescents aged 12-19 years, 20·5 % are obese and obesity rates are slightly higher among females (21·0 %) compared with males (20·1 %)(3). In Canada, 30·1 % of adolescents aged 12-17 years are overweight or obese(4), which predisposes them to future chronic diseases(5). To address the obesity problem, the WHO recently issued new recommendations encouraging populations of all ages to limit sugar intake, including sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), to no more than 10 % and possibly 5 % of total energy intake(6).
SSB consumption contributes to excessive intake of sugar among adolescents, which is related to many health problems such as heart diseases(7-10), stroke(7), obesity(11-16), type 2 diabetes(17-20), hypercholesterolaemia(21,22), cancer(23)and tooth decay(24). Moreover, SSB offer no health benefits, increase total energy intake and may reduce the consumption of foods containing essential nutrients for optimal health, such as milk(6,25). Unfortunately, adolescents are large consumers of SSB. SBB are the main source of energy from all beverages in adolescents aged 13-18 years in London, UK(26). They are also the main sources of added sugar in Mexico, representing 66·2 % of added sugars for adolescents from 12 to 19 years of age(27). In the USA, adolescents aged 13-18 years drink an average of 606 ml of soda and fruit drinks daily(28). In Canada, boys aged 14-18 years drink a mean quantity of 574 g (which equates approximately the same in millilitres) of SSB daily and girls 354 g daily(29).
Since habits developed during...