Although children are not buying sugary drinks at school because of state bans, their overall consumption of such beverages does not seem to have dropped, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago reported in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine after carrying out a study involving nearly seven thousand pupils in 40 US states.

The researchers wrote as background information:

“In the past 25 years, sources of energy intake among youth have shifted toward greater consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, sports drinks, and high-calorie fruit drinks.

The Institute of Medicine recommended that all sugar-sweetened beverages be banned in schools, but many state competitive food policies have focused primarily on soda while allowing sports drinks, fruit drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages.”

Daniel R. Taber, Ph.D., M.P.H., and team set out to determine whether children in states that banned sugar-sweetened drinks from public schools consumed lower amounts of such drinks at school, outside school, and overall compared to those in states with no beverage policy or those that only banned sodas. They specifically focused on adolescents.

The study involved 6,900 pupils from public schools in forty different states. They were all fifth and eighth grade students during dated Spring 2004 and 2007 respectively. They were given questionnaires which asked them about their consumption of sugary drinks, plus whether they were able to buy these drinks at school.

They found that:

  • States that banned only soda – 66.6% reported in-school sugary drinks access
  • States that banned only soda – 28.9% reported buying sugary drinks
  • States with no policy on school drinks – 66.6% reported in-school sugary drinks access
  • States with no policy on school drinks – 26% reported buying sugary drinks
  • The consumption of sugary drinks was not linked to state policy
  • In each category about 85% of pupils consumed sugary drinks once or more during the previous seven days
  • In each category between 26% and 33% of pupils said they consumed sugary drinks everyday

The researchers wrote:

“To summarize, state policies regulating beverages sold in middle schools were associated with reduced in-school sugar-sweetened beverage access and purchasing only if they banned all sugar-sweetened beverages. Access and purchasing were equivalent in states that banned only soda compared with those with no policy at all.

However, even comprehensive sugar-sweetened beverage policies were not associated with overall consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which was largely independent of students’ in-school sugar-sweetened beverage access.

(conclusion) Our study adds to a growing body of literature that suggests that to be effective, school-based policy interventions must be comprehensive. States that only ban soda, while allowing other beverages with added caloric sweeteners, appear to be no more successful at reducing adolescents’ sugar-sweetened beverage access and purchasing within school than states that take no action at all.” “

Written by Christian Nordqvist