Policies that restrict sweetened beverage availability may reduce consumption in elementary-school children

Objective:We investigated whether having a policy regarding the availability of sweetened beverages in school was associated with children\u27s purchase of total weekly and daily consumption of sweetened beverages. Design: Data were obtained in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort. Multilevel logistic regression was used to determine the magnitude and significance of relationships between the availability of different beverages and purchase of sweetened beverages at school and overall consumption of beverages. Results: The purchase of sweetened beverages by children in school was strongly associated with the administrative policy of sweetened beverage availability. Compared with children in schools without an administrative policy that allowed sweetened beverages, children in schools with the policy were three times more likely to be either occasional or frequent consumers of sweetened beverages. Conclusions:A policy of availability of sweetened beverages makes an independent contribution to children\u27s purchase and consumption of sweetened beverages in the 5th grade year