CONSUMPTION OF SOFT DRINKS AND OTHER SWEET DRINKS BY WIC INFANTS

Abstract

The Journal has published numerous articles on consumption of soft drinks and other sweet drinks by children,1–4 but none of these articles has reported on infants. Papers published elsewhere on complementary feeding of infants have seldom considered these beverages. The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Infant Feeding Practices Study,5,6 a nationally representative 1-year longitudinal study carried out in the mid-1990s, found high levels of consumption of these beverages by infants. In the first month of life, 14% of infants received sweet drinks (i.e., sugar water, fruit-flavored drinks, sodas, tea, and coffee), and by the age of 4 months, nearly one third of infants received these drinks. This practice was most common among Hispanic infants—one fourth of whom were given sweet drinks in the first month and almost one half of whom were given sweet drinks in the first 4 months. Many Hispanic mothers reported giving their infants “manzanilla” tea in hopes of preventing or treating colic. Many infants also received fruit juice earlier than the recommended age of 6 months7—5% in the first month and almost half by the age of 4 months. There was little variation among White, African American, and Hispanic mothers. At the time the study was conducted, the WIC program recommended giving fruit juice only when the infant could drink from a cup, after about 4 months of age8; fruit juice has recently been removed from the WIC food package for infants younger than 4 months. The 2002 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study9 documented that infants of all ages who were enrolled in WIC were much more likely than were nonparticipants to receive fruit juice. Consumption of sodas and other sweet drinks was not reported. A recent meta-analysis1 reported that soft drink intake among children and adults was associated with higher energy intake and body weight, lower intake of milk and calcium, and increased risks of several medical problems, particularly diabetes. Thus, the dramatic increase in soft drink consumption in children10 (which is likely to be mirrored in infants) is of great concern. Although health care workers are likely to talk with mothers about inappropriate feeding of juice to young infants, our study indicates that they should also advise against soft drinks and other sweet drinks for infants of any age.