Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Food Insecurity in Pediatric Patients with Obesity

Abstract

Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and food insecurity are both thought to contribute to the development of obesity. However, little is known about the quantity and quality of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed, the prevalence of food insecurity, or if these are related, in treatment-seeking patients. A retrospective chart review of obese children and adolescents seeking treatment at ECU's Healthy Weight Clinic was conducted. A validated beverage consumption instrument was employed to assess total calories contributed by beverages, with a focus on those, which are considered sugar-sweetened beverages. Food insecurity was assessed with the USDA short form with two validated questions. Sugar-sweetened beverages are a significant source of excess calories in obese children. Food insecurity appears to be a risk factor for high sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and suggests that financial concerns may be linked to poor nutritional literacy. This study was done in order to find if in fact food insecurity within family units leads to increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Our hypothesis was that there would be a strong correlation between perceived food insecurity and a high caloric intake from sugar-sweetened beverages. Each patient was given the two validated food insecurity questions from the USDA short form and there were answers of Never True, Sometimes True, or Often True for both questions. Answers of Sometimes True or Often True were deemed as perceived food insecurity. The beverage survey data along with the food insecurity answers were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and the results between gender, ethnicity, age, income-based assistance, beverage calories, and food insecurities were compared. Our results show that on average, children in families with perceived food insecurities consumed an excess of one hundred calories from the average sugar-sweetened beverage consumption calories of the cohort.