Abstract
The association between sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and symptom complaints among school-aged children remains unclear. Children aged 6–17 years (n = 29,028) were recruited on the basis of a national school-based study. Data collection included two waves: the exposure was the amount and frequency of SSB consumption, collected in the 2013 autumn semester, and outcomes were defined as having clinical symptom complaints after two weeks of observation, collected in the 2014 spring semester. Symptom complaints were defined as fever, cough, headache, loose bowels, vomiting, sore throat, rash, conjunctival congestion, and stomachache. The associations between the amount/frequency of SSBs and symptoms complaints were explored by a general linear model, with adjustments made for socio-demographic and other lifestyle information. Among the 12,454 children (10.32 ± 3.15 years, 48.7% male) in the final analysis, the odds ratio for having symptom complaints (1.46, 95% CI: 1.10–1.95) among children whose SSB consumption was >75 mL/day was significantly higher than that among children who had no SSB consumption. Among children with a daily SSB intake of more than 75 mL, there was a higher risk for symptom complaints. We recommend more support for decreasing SSB consumption among children to minimize negative health outcomes.
Highlights
It has been suggested that the overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked to a vast array of negative health outcomes in adulthood, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and dental caries [1]
We hypothesize that higher consumption of SSBs among children is associated with more symptom complaints, such as fever and abdominal pain, and we aim to confirm the association in a large sample size population-based study
Adjusting for age, gender, and other socio-demographic factors in the analysis, we found that the likelihood of symptoms being reported was higher among children reporting SSB intake (large amount: odds ratio (OR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20–1.47; small amount: OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.00–1.19; Table 3, adjusted model 1), compared with children who never drank SSBs
Summary
It has been suggested that the overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is linked to a vast array of negative health outcomes in adulthood, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and dental caries [1]. SSBs may affect child health during a sensitive period [2]. Our previous research showed a relationship between SSBs and metabolic index in childhood [3], chronic diseases are seldom present at such young age. According to a German study, clinical symptom complaints are common among school-aged children [4]. Another study indicated that symptoms such as medically unexplained abdominal pain and headache contributed to more than half of school absences [5], highly impacting academic performance [6]. It is unclear how these medically unexplained symptoms occurred, but diet advice may affect medically unsolved symptoms in childhood [7], indicating that these symptoms could be related to food
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