Characteristics Associated with Being a High Consumer of Sweet Foods and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages among US Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2021.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted some dietary habits of Americans. We examined characteristics associated with a high intake of sweet foods and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) during the COVID-19 pandemic among US adults. This was a cross-sectional study. The SummerStyles survey data were collected in 2021 among 4034 US adults (≥18 years). The frequencies were measured of consuming various sweet foods (chocolate/candy, doughnuts/sweet rolls/Danish/muffins/Pop-Tarts, cookies/cake/pie/brownies, and ice cream/frozen desserts) and SSB (regular sodas, sweetened coffee/tea drinks fruit drinks, sports drinks, and energy drinks) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The responses were categorized into 0, >0 to <1, 1 to <2, and ≥2 times/day. The descriptive variables were sociodemographics, food insecurity, weight status, metropolitan status, census regions, and eating habit changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multinomial regressions were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for being a high consumer of sweet foods and SSB after controlling for characteristics. During 2021, 15% of adults reported consuming sweet foods ≥2 times/day, and 30% reported drinking SSB ≥2 times/day. The factors that were significantly associated with greater odds of high sweet food intake (≥2 times/day) were lower household income (AOR = 1.53 for <$35,000 vs. ≥$100,000), often/sometimes experiencing food insecurity (AOR = 1.41 vs. never), and eating more sweet foods than usual since start of the pandemic (AOR = 2.47 vs. same as usual). The factors that were significantly associated with greater odds of high SSB intake (≥2 times/day) were males (AOR = 1.51), lower education (AOR = 1.98 for ≤high school; AOR = 1.33 for some college vs. college graduate), currently having children (AOR = 1.65), living in nonmetropolitan areas (AOR = 1.34), and drinking more SSB than usual since the pandemic began (AOR = 2.23 vs. same as usual). Younger age, Black race, and reductions in consumption during COVID-19 were related to lower sweet food and SSB intakes. Our findings, which identified high consumers of sweet foods or SSB, can be used to inform efforts to reduce consumers' added sugars intake during pandemic recovery and support their health.