Sugary drinks maintain hold on Americans

February 21, 2017   |   Evidence in Integrative Healthcare

Despite the long term efforts of many public health agencies, a recent CDC report demonstrates that adults and children continue to consume the same number of calories from sugary beverages now as they did in 2009-2010. The approaches to reducing the consumption of these beverages has been born out of the link to many population health concerns such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. There were a period of years where educational approaches like those supported by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines demonstrated progress, however at this point there has been a leveling off. There are a number of explanations for this effect such as substitution of sugary beverages other than soda,  socioeconomic and generational differences in consumption patterns.  Guidelines for sugar consumption have been expressed in different ways such as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines suggestion that all added sugars account for no more than 10 percent of dietary calories, and the American Heart Association’s recommendation that children get no more than 100 calories/day from sugary beverages. The unique element to sugary beverages is most people don’t realize how much actual sugar they’ve consumed. It will require a sustained effort to produce an effective culture shift to address this issue.  For additional information on this area of concern: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/26/americans-were-making-a-lot-of-progress-cutting-back-on-sugary-drinks-now-thats-stopped/?utm_term=.8f5016c8d15b&wpisrc=nl_sb_smartbrief