Soft Drinks

Soft drink consumption is likely to influence obesity. Evidence suggests that people don’t compensate for the increase in energy consumed by drinking soft drink, and that soft drinks may provide insufficient satiety signals when compared with solid food .

In addition, soft drink consumption can stimulate appetite, as consuming high glycaemic carbohydrates can cause glucose levels to fall.

 Also, when processing soft drink the body may use less energy than when processing other food (lower thermogenesis).

The most recent national Australian data on soft drink consumption are presented by Gill, Rangan and Webb (2006). They found that about half of all teenagers and 36 per cent of 2–3 year olds had consumed soft drink in the past

24 hours.

Almost 60 per cent of males and almost 40 per cent of females in years 6, 8 and 10 drank more than 250ml of soft drink daily. In addition, between 7–12 per cent of males and a smaller proportion of females drank more than 1 litre of soft drink daily. It appears that male children consume more soft drink than female children , and soft drink consumption increases with age.

Between 1969 and 1999, soft drink consumption by adults and children more than doubled from an average of 47 litres per person per year to 113 litres per person per year (ABS 2000). A number of factors could explain this increase. First, increased availability of soft drinks, such as more vending machines, making it a relatively more convenient purchase. Second, a reduction in the relative price of soft drinks.

In the United States relative soft drink prices have decreased and consumption has increased over the past 20 years — soft drink consumption of 6–11 year olds roughly doubled between 1977–78 and 1998, and between 1982–1984 and 2000 the price of soft drinks increased by only 26 per cent, much lower than the overall consumer price index (80 per cent) and the price of fresh fruits and vegetables (158 per cent) (Sturm 2005).

A study conducted in regional Victoria (Sanigorski, Bell and Swinburn 2007) found that 4–12 year olds who consumed three or more servings of soft drink ‘yesterday’ were significantly more likely to be overweight/obese than those who consumed 0–2 servings.

A large international meta-analysis found a significant correlation between soft drink consumption and energy consumed.

However, the average size of the effect was small for children. Evidence for an association between soft drink consumption and body weight was mixed, and was influenced by how body weight was measured.

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