1. Sugar Sweetened
Beverage
Consumption in
Toddlers
Melanie Campbell
Brittany Loomis
Lyndee Nevitt
Shawna Pierce
Jody Silentman

2. Background & Significance
Currently, one out of three children are
considered obese in the United States1 and
sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are a
major contributor to this.
 Beverage companies are spending about
half a billion dollars in marketing that is
aimed directly at children ages 2-172.
 By 2008, 91% of children were consuming
SSB’s on a regular basis3.
 Today, SSB’s continue to be the largest
source of added sugars in the diet of
children4.


3. Background & Significance
The problem affects many people:
children, parents, schools, and day care
providers.
 Because children have little free will, their
parents choices dramatically affect their
health.
 Advertisements lead parents to believe that
juice and sports drinks are beneficial for
their children, when in fact it is the exact
opposite.
 Because of this lack of knowledge, it has
been shown that many parents do not
believe there is a need to change their
children’s beverage consumption5.


4. Background & Significance
The constant access of SSB’s children
receive will result in a lasting negative
impact throughout their entire lives.
 It has been shown that there is a positive
correlation with consumption of SSB’s and
Body Mass Index6.
 However, learning more about SSB’s is one
way to cut out an unnecessary risk to
disease in the lives of children.


5. Factors Associated with the
Problem – Demographic
 Gender
- slightly more problematic in
males7
 Minorities
 Low education level (in parents)8
 Low socioeconomic status
http://www.ahchealthenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/More-bad-news-aboutkids-and-sugary-drinks.jpg

6. Factors Associated with the
Problem – Personal
 Information

Misconceptions: example – tap water seen
as dangerous in Latino families9
 Motivation/Behavioral
Skills8
 Perceptions of consequences
 Modeling
 Providing alternatives
https://encryptedtbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBAyxvvTTkP3meKRsh509fO8ql
VW303zW9fs-d_dj2lcs6ioZn

7. Factors Associated with the
Problem – Cultural/Social
 Culturally

relevant drinks
Ex: “Agua Fresca” (natural = healthy)
 View
on 100% juice
 Social Norms

Sports drinks in children’s athletic events
 Traditions
https://encryptedtbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRNTxZHrMBM1al5KCCgthUcw9Uhe2
48N6khrJ8IKHboVeTtR2s-

8. Factors Associated with the
Problem – Environmental
 Access
to foods
 Less control at daycares/schools
 Dense-areas of fast food restaurants10
 Pricing
 Advertising11
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1251978/thumbs/o-COCA-COLA-facebook.jpg

9. Interventions Addressing the
Problem12






The study reviewed the excessive weight gain in American
Indian/ Alaskan native children.
The purpose of this study was to promote consumption of water
for thirst among toddlers and reduce the consumption of sugarsweetened beverages to reduce the risk of obesity.
The population was American Indian and Alaskan native
children aged 18-24 months.
There were a total of 205 participants.
They found that the prevention of consumption of sugar
sweetened beverages prevented child obesity, as well as
lowered the BMI.
We learned that the overconsumption of sugar sweetened
beverages are positively related to child obesity, and the
prevention of this consumption from toddlers to adolescence
can help in lower BMI as well as less risk of obesity later in life.

10. Interventions Addressing the
Problem13
 The
second intervention we reviewed was
developed to evaluate an InformationMotivation-Behavior Skills (IMB) Model.
 Targeted 3-5 year-olds from low-income/lowresource minority households.
 Showed that sugar sweetened beverages lead to
an overconsumption of calories by children that
can lead to them becoming overweight.
 The role that parents and families play in this
behavior.

11. Interventions Addressing the
Problem14






The third intervention we studied was focused towards
underserved minority populations in Alaska, American
Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, and Hawai’i.
It was carried out by the Children’s Healthy Living (CHL)
program and concentrated on the idea of Community
Engagement Process (CEP).
The study consisted of about 900 community stakeholders
such as teachers, parents, and leaders of the community.
It focused on children ages 2-8.
CEP identified environmental priorities by the community
members and desired change in behavioral outcomes.
We learned that with acquired relevant information from
community members themselves that a more successful
implemented program could be created to sustain a
population’s overall health and well-being.

12. Solutions to the Problem
 Develop
a community exchange
program:
 It
would be held once a week in an accessible
location within the community
 Low-income/low-resource families would bring
in sugar-sweetened beverages from home in
exchange for:
 Water,
low-fat milk or milk alternatives

13. Solutions to the Problem

The programs goals would be to:
Guide & educate parents/guardians, as well
as day cares & preschools.


Provide them with resources to fun learning
activities to teach toddlers to choose water or
non-sweetened beverages over sugary drinks &
juices.
Connect with partners to provide resources
such as local growers/fresh markets, coupon
services or discounts (such as set up a
discount program by vendors), get the
community (volunteer programs) involved
with providing weekly pick-up & provide
delivery services to those that cannot attend.

14. Solutions to the Problem
Who does this program target?
 Parents and families of toddlers
 Toddlers aged 2-5
 Low income households
 Low resource households
 Local child care centers

15. Solutions to the Problem
How would you get them involved?
 Inform daycare providers
 Low income medical & dental clinics
 Community health fairs
 Community health services
 Provide educational classes
 Follow up with parents weekly

16. Solutions to the Problem
SMART Objectives:
1.
Eighty five percent of community residents within
the chosen low-income/low-resources region will
participate in the Community Exchange
program held every Wednesday by April 2014.
1.
One year after the start of the program,
participating households will have no beverage
item with a sugar content over 15g per serving.

17. References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Odgen CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 19992010. JAMA. 2012;307:483-90.
US Federal Trade Commission. Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and SelfRegulation. Washinton, DC: US Federal Trade Commision; 2008.
Lasater G, Piernas C, Popkin BM. Beverage patterns and trends among school-aged children in the US, 1989-2008. Nutr J.
2011;10:103.
Reedy J, Krebs-Smith SM. Dietary source of energy, solid fats, and added sugars among children and adolescents in the United
States. J of Am Dietetic Assc. 2010; 110(10):1477-1484.
De Craemer M, De Decker E, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Deforche B, Vereecken C, Duvinage K, Grammatikaki E, Lotova V, FernandezAlvira JM, Zych K, Manios Y, Cardon G. Physical activity and beverage consumption in preschoolers: focus groups with parents and
teachers. BMC Public Health. 2013 March 27;13:278. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458- 13-278.
DeBoer MD, Scharf RJ, Demmer Rt. Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in 2- to 5- year old children. Pediatrics. 2013
Sep;132(3):413-20. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-0570.
Gillis LJ, Bar-Or O. Food away from home, sugar-sweetened drink consumption and juvenile obesity. J Am Coll Nutr. 2003
Dec;22(6):539-45
Goodell LS, Pierce MB, Amico KR, Ferris AM. Parental information, motivation, and behavioral skills correlate with child sweetened
beverage consumption. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2012 May-Jun;44(3):240-5.
Bogart LM, Cowgill BO, Sharma AJ, Uyeda K, Sticklor LA, Alijewicz KE, Schuster MA. Parental and home environmental facilitators of
sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among overweight and obese Latino youth. Acad Pediatr. 2013 Jul-Aug;13(4):348-55.
Richmond TK, Spadano-Gasbarro JL, Walls CE, Austin SB, Greaney ML, Wang ML, Mezegebu S, Peterson KE. Middle school food
environments and racial/ethnic differences in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption: Findings from the Healthy Choices study.
Prev Med. 2013 Nov;57(5):735-8.
Giancoli A, Soto R, Sachnoff K. Sugary drinks: a big problem for little kids. First 5 LA. 2011. Available at:
http://www.first5la.org/files/Sugar-Sweetened_Drink_Policy_Brief.pdf. Accessed November 19, 2013.
Karanja N, Lutz T, Ritenbaugh C, Maupome G, Jones J, Becker T, Aickin M. The TOTS community intervention to prevent overweight in
American Indian toddlers beginning at birth: a feasibility and efficacy study. J Community Health. 2010 Dec;35(6):667-75. doi:
10.1007/s10900-010-9270Goodell, L.S., Amico, K.R., Pierce, M.B., Ferris, A.M. 2008. An information-motivation-behavioral skills model for child sweetened
beverage consumption. FASEB J. (Abstract 678)
Fialkowski MK, DeBaryshe B, Bersamin A, Nigg C, Guerrero RL, Rojas G, Areta AAR, Vargo A, Camacho TB, Castro R, Luick B, Novotny
R. A Community Engagement Process Identifies Environmental Priorities to Prevent Early Childhood Obesity: The Children’s Healthy
Living (CHL) Program for Remote Underserved Populations in the US Affiliated Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Alaska. Matern Child Health
J. 2013.