Replacing Sugary Drinks with Water Among Young Latino Children and their Parents

Objectives: Test the preliminary effects and provide proof of concept of a newly-created, theory-based intervention that was designed using a community-participatory approach to increase plain water consumption (mostly from tap) and reduce sugary drink intake among Latino children and their mothers. The 12-week intervention addresses sociocultural (via a curriculum) and physical (via water filters) barriers to drinking tap water and sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) in this predominantly Central American immigrant, low-income community. The primary hypothesis is that the intervention will increase overall plain water consumption and decrease sugary drink intake among parents and their children. We also examine 100% fruit juice intake, as our community partners are concerned about excess drinking of this beverage. Methods: This is a pre and post evaluation study. The intervention was integrated into an existing home visiting program of two partner Early Head Start (EHS) centers in the Washington DC metropolitan area. All children are from families living below the poverty guidelines. EHS home visitors were trained to deliver the intervention during 3, 2-hour training sessions. We intended to recruit and retain 50 Latino families. The Beverage Intake Questionnaires (for preschoolers, as parent-reported, and for adults) were cognitively tested for our population and administered to determine SSB (a sum of sweetened fruit drinks, soda, flavored milk, sport drinks and sweetened coffee/tea), 100% fruit juice and water intake. A survey assessed knowledge and attitudes. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests. Results: We were able to recruit 45 parents, of which 86.67% completed the 12-week program (others moved out of the EHS network during the program). Preliminary data indicate that among children there was an average increase of 15.32 oz in water/day and a 6.07 oz/day decrease in SSB+100% fruit juice. Among parents, there was an average increase of 1.75 oz/day of water and a decrease of 4.95 oz/day of SSB+100% fruit juice intake. Conclusion: Preliminary findings are encouraging results, and suggest the 12-week intervention is effective in both increasing water and decrease SSB intake among primary caregiver and their children