Changes in patterns of sugar sweetened beverage consumption in Taiwanese adolescents in 14 years

[[abstract]]Background: Types of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) can differ greatly between countries, with greater consumption of sweetened tea drinks in Asia. To date few studies have explored such differences. Objectives: To understand changes in SSB consumption by adolescents in Taiwan over a 14 year period and their association with demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures and blood results. Design: This study uses data from the 1993-1996 and 2010-2011 Nutrition and Health Surveys in Taiwan. Participants were high school students aged 13 to 18 years. Data were weighted and analyzed using SUDAAN 11.0 and SAS 9.4. Participants were asked about intake frequencies of different types of SSBs and were grouped into four different SSB consumption patterns based on the combination of high (≥ 3 times per week) or low frequency (<3 times per week) of intake of sweetened tea drinks and soft drinks/sports/energy drinks. Results: Although mean weekly SSB intake significantly declined between surveys from 12 to 10.7 times per week (P = 0.030), over 99% of teens reported having at least one SSB in the past week. Sweetened tea drinks became the most frequently consumed SSB followed by soft drinks/sports/energy drinks. Smoking status was significantly associated with SSB intake patterns with high tea intake (High tea, Low soft drinks group, OR = 2.50, p = 0.037; High tea, High soft drinks group, OR = 4.43, p = 0.005). After adjustment for potential confounders, adolescents in the LH group (β = 0.05, P = 0.032) and HH group (β = 0.07, P < 0.01) had significantly higher mean serum uric acid values. Conclusions:Sugary tea drinks remain the SSB of choice for Taiwanese adolescents. However, intake of soft drinks/sports and energy drinks had a stronger relationship with hyperuricemia