Recording sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and other health-behavior data in patients' health records could help clinicians identify and counsel patients to promote health behavior changes, according to a study from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Researchers examined the relationships between SSB consumption and demographic, health behavior, health service, and health condition characteristics of adult patients of a network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in a low-income, urban setting.
Researchers found that 40 percent of adult patients consumed one or more SSBs daily. The adjusted odds ratios indicated that patients who consumed more than one SSB daily were more likely to be aged 18 to 29 years versus age 70 or older, current smokers versus never smoking, eating no servings of fruits and/or vegetables daily or one to four servings daily versus five or more servings daily, and not walking or biking more than 10 blocks in the past 30 days. Patients consuming one or more servings of SSBs daily were less likely to speak Spanish than English, be women than men, be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes versus no diabetes, and be diagnosed with hypertension versus no hypertension.
Source: Factors Associated With Daily Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Among Adult Patients at Four Federally Qualified Health Centers, Bronx, New York, 2013, Ross B. Kristal, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,