Carbonated Soft Drinks Research Articles

An evaluation of the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention in a rural community pharmacy setting.

BackgroundSugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with morbidity and mortality. The retail food environment influences food and beverage purchasing and consumption. This study assesses the impact of a community pharmacy’s removal of sweet beverages on overall community sales of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) in a rural setting. We also examined whether the pharmacy intervention affected CSD sales in the town’s other food stores.MethodsWeekly CSD sales data were acquired from the three food retailers in the town of Baddeck, Nova Scotia (January 1, 2013 to May 8, 2015, n = 123 weeks). Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) analysis was used to analyse the interrupted time series data and estimate the impact of the pharmacy intervention (September 11, 2014) on overall CSD sales at the community level. Data were analysed in 2015.ResultsBefore the intervention, the pharmacy accounted for approximately 6 % of CSD sales in the community. After the intervention, declines in total weekly average community CSD sales were not statistically significantly. CSD sales at the other food stores did not increase after the pharmacy intervention.ConclusionsThis study was among the first to examine the impact of a restrictive retail food environment intervention, and found a non-significant decline in CSD sales at the community level. It is the first study to examine a retail food environment intervention in a community pharmacy. Pharmacies may have an important role to play in creating healthy retail food environments.

Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and risk of incident chronic kidney disease: Tehran lipid and glucose study.

To evaluate cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs), sugar sweetened carbonated soft drinks (SSSDs), and fruit juice drink consumption and risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a population based study. At baseline, 2382 participants, aged >27 years, of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study with complete data on serum creatinine, cardio-metabolic risk factors, and diet were included for cross-sectional analysis. After 3 years, 1690 subjects, free of baseline CKD and with complete follow-up data, were included for longitudinal analysis. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study equation and CKD was defined as eGFR < 60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) . Dietary intake was collected using a food-frequency questionnaire and SSSDs and all kinds of fruit juice drinks were combined to estimate the intake of SSBs. To assess the association of SSBs and CKD, logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, smoking, physical activity, body mass index, sodium, diabetes, and hypertension were used. The mean age of participants and serving of SSBs/week were 45.0 years and 2.3, respectively. Compared to participants taking <0.5 serving/week, consumption of more than four servings of SSBs and SSSDs per week was associated with increased odds ratio (OR) of prevalent CKD (1.77 and 2.14, respectively). In longitudinal analyses, the risk of incident CKD increased by consumption of four servings/week, compared to less than 0.5 serving/week of SSBs (OR: 1.96; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.23-3.15) and SSSDs (OR: 2.45; 95% CI:1.55-3.89). Consumption of over four servings per week of SSBs and SSSDs was associated with higher prevalence and incidence of CKD.

Carbonated soft drinks induce oxidative stress and alter the expression of certain genes in the brains of Wistar rats.

In Saudi Arabia, the consumption of carbonated soft drinks is common and often occurs with each meal. Carbonated soft drink consumption has been shown to exhibit effects on the liver, kidney and bone. However, the effects of these soft drinks on brain activity have not been widely examined, particularly at the gene level. Therefore, the current study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the effects of chronic carbonated soft drink consumption on oxidative stress, brain gene biomarkers associated with aggression and brain histology. In total, 40 male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: Group 1 served as a control and was provided access to food and water ad libitum; and groups 2‑4 were given free access to food and carbonated soft drinks only (Cola for group 2, Pepsi for group 3 and 7‑UP for group 4). Animals were maintained on these diets for 3 consecutive months. Upon completion of the experimental period, animals were sacrificed and serological and histopathological analyses were performed on blood and tissues samples. Reverse transcription‑polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze alterations in gene expression levels. Results revealed that carbonated soft drinks increased the serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA). Carbonated soft drinks were also observed to downregulate the expression of antioxidants glutathione reductase (GR), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the brain when compared with that in the control rats. Rats administered carbonated soft drinks also exhibited decreased monoamine oxidase A (MAO‑A) and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) serum and mRNA levels in the brain. In addition, soft drink consumption upregulated mRNA expression of dopamine D2 receptor (DD2R), while 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter (5‑HTT) expression was decreased. However, following histological examination, all rats had a normal brain structure. The results of this study demonstrated that that carbonated soft drinks induced oxidative stress and altered the expression of certain genes that are associated with the brain activity and thus should be consumed with caution.

A Dissociation Between Recognition and Hedonic Value in Caloric and Non-caloric Carbonated Soft Drinks.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is considered to be a contributor to diabetes and the epidemic of obesity in many countries. The popularity of non-caloric carbonated soft drinks as an alternative to SSBs may be a factor in reducing the health risks associated with SSBs consumption. This study focuses on the perceptual discrimination of SSBs from artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs). Fifty-five college students rated 14 commercially available carbonated soft drinks in terms of sweetness and likeability. They were also asked to recognize, if the drinks contained sugar or a non-caloric artificial sweetener. Overall, participants showed poor accuracy in discriminating drinks’ sweeteners, with significantly lower accuracy for SSBs than ASBs. Interestingly, we found a dissociation between sweetener recognition and drink pleasantness. In fact, in spite of a chance-level discrimination accuracy of SSBs, their taste was systematically preferred to the taste of non-caloric beverages. Our findings support the idea that hedonic value of carbonated soft drinks is dissociable from its identification and that the activation of the pleasure system seems not to require explicit recognition of the sweetener contained in the soft drink. We hypothesize that preference for carbonated soft drinks containing sugar over non-caloric alternatives might be modulated by metabolic factors that are independent from conscious and rational consumers’ choices.

Beverage intake and obesity in early childhood: evidence form primary health care clients in Northwest Argentina.

Sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are thought to play an important role in weight gain. We examined the relationship between the intake of caloric and noncaloric beverages (SSB and water) and the nutritional status of children. In 2014, we randomly selected 16 public health clinics in four cities of Northwest Argentina and conducted a survey among mothers of children 0-6 years of age. Children's beverage intake was ascertained by 24-h dietary recall provided by the mothers. Children's weight and height measures were obtained from clinic's registries. We calculated the body mass index using the International Obesity Task Force standards. The analysis included 562 children 25 months to 6 years of age with normal or above normal nutritional status. Children's beverage consumption was as follows, water 81.8%, carbonated soft drinks (CSD) 49.7%, coffee/tea/cocoa 44.0%, artificial fruit drinks 35.6%, flavored water 17.9%, natural fruit juice 14.5%. In multivariate logistic regression models the likelihood of being obese v. being overweight or having normal weight doubled with an intake of one to five glasses of CSD (OR=2.2) and increased by more than three-fold with an intake of more than five glasses (OR=3.5). Drinking more than five glasses of water decreased the likelihood of being obese by less than half (OR=0.3). The percentage of children drinking more than five glasses of other beverages was low (3.3-0.9%) and regression models did not yield significant results. The study contributed evidence for reducing children's CSD intake and for promoting water consumption, together with the implementation of comprehensive regulatory public health policies.

Toward an Understanding of Causality Between Advertising and Sales: New Evidence from a Multivariate Cointegrated System

This article explores the nature of causality between advertising and sales for two mature brands in different industries (carbonated soft drinks and smokeless tobacco) using more than three decades of time series data. The empirical results suggest that advertising and sales for both brands move in tandem over the long term, but only when controlling for economic climate. The results further imply that for Brand CSD (carbonated soft drinks), advertising and sales appear causally unrelated in the short run, while significant one-way causality exists from sales to advertising in the long run. This suggests that advertising investments over the long term are dependent on sales revenues, opposite to what is commonly perceived. A similar advertising policy may be in place over the short term for Brand T (tobacco). The analysis extends prior research by revisiting the “advertising or sales” assessment using current data from mature industries. We contend that advertising expenditures are subject to change based on sales volume in slow-growth industries.

Consumption of sugar sweetened beverage is associated with incidence of metabolic syndrome in Tehranian children and adolescents.

BackgroundIntakes of high sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in adults can escalate risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS); however, data of longitudinal studies in children and adolescents are lacking. In this study we assessed consumption of SSBs in relation to incidence of MetS among children and adolescents during a 3.6 year follow-up.MethodsThis study was a population-based longitudinal study, in which 424 subjects, aged 6–18 years, from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study with complete data on dietary intake, blood pressure, anthropometry, and biochemical indices were followed for 3.6 years. Dietary intake was collected using a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire. MetS was defined according to the Cook criteria. Sugar sweetened beverages included all kinds of sugar sweetened carbonated soft drinks (SSSDs) and fruit juice drinks.ResultsAverage daily intakes of SSSD and fruit juice drinks were 38.5 ± 75.0 and 32.3 ± 60.1 g, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, compared to the first quartile, the odds ratio of incident MetS in the highest quartile of SSB and SSSD was 3.20 (95 % CI: 1.06–9.90) and 3.01 (95 % CI: 1.17–7.74), respectively. Regarding incidence of MetS components, compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartile of SSSDs showed odds ratios of 2.49 (95 % CI: 1.00–6.53) for abdominal obesity and 2.79 (95 % CI: 1.02–7.64) for hypertension. No significant association was found between consumption of fruit juice drink and SSSD with other components of MetS.ConclusionsChildren and adolescents with high intakes of carbonated beverages could be at increased risk of MetS, abdominal obesity, and hypertension.

Emerging protective and risk factors of mental health in Asian American students: findings from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

A large number of studies observed inconsistent findings about mental health among Asian American adolescents. Using data from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, this study examined a set of emerging risk and protective factors (dietary patterns, bullying, cyberbullying, TV consumption, and physical activity) for psychosocial distress (depression and suicidal ideation) in 12- to 18-year-old 671 Asian compared to 6,415 Caucasian and 3,477 African adolescents. Using descriptive statistics and bivariate logistic regression analysis, this study found that Asian students (27.1%) reported more depression than their African (25.9%) but less depression than their Caucasian (29.4%) counterparts. Asian students (18.8%) reported more suicidal ideation than their African (15.9%) and Caucasian (16.8%) counterparts. Results also depicted that lower carrot intake increased depression risk (odd ratio (OR): 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 2.21), while higher milk and less carbonated soft drink consumption decreased suicidal ideation risk (OR: .49, 95% CI: .26, .91, OR: .53, 95% CI: .32, .88, respectively), only applicable to Asian students. However, unexpectedly, low levels of bullying on school property resulted in higher depression (Asians, OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.24; Africans, OR: 3.32, 95% CI: 2.96, 3.72; and Caucasians, OR: 2.40, 95% CI: 2.04, 2.83). Similarly, lower cyber bullying (Asians, OR: 3.54, 95% CI: 2.12, 5.93; Africans, OR: 2.88, 95% CI: 2.47, 3.34; and Caucasians, OR: 2.59, 95% CI: 2.19, 3.04) predicted higher odds of depression and suicidal ideation in all racial groups. Another interesting risk factor of higher suicidal ideation in overall racial groups was high levels of breakfast consumption (Asians, OR: 3.19, 95% CI: 1.91, 5.31; Africans, OR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.21, 1.90; and Caucasians, OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.54). School staff and mental health professionals should embrace culturally responsive healthy dietary patterns to promote positive youth development in Asian Americans.

Determination of metals in soft drinks packed in different materials by ETAAS

The present work proposes a method for the direct determination of Al, Cu, Cr, Fe and Ni in Brazilian carbonated soft drinks by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Samples of different flavors packed in containers made of different materials (polyterephthalate ethylene and glass bottles, and aluminum and steel cans) were analyzed. The method was optimized by building up pyrolysis and atomization curves in sample medium and by evaluating the calibration approach. Under optimized conditions, recoveries in the range of 92–104% were obtained in the evaluation of method accuracy. The limits of quantification for Al, Cu, Cr, Fe and Ni were 2.3, 0.93, 0.17, 0.90 and 1.2μgL−1, respectively. Also, the impact of the material used in the packaging and flavor on the concentrations of each metal in the samples was evaluated. It was proved that neither flavor nor packaging material affected the concentrations of Al and Fe in the samples. On the other hand, the packaging material influenced the concentration of Cu, Cr and Ni, and only the flavor affected the concentration of Cu in the samples. These conclusions were based on the data obtained from the application of a two-way ANOVA evaluation at 95% confidence level.

Assessing dietary exposure to caffeine from beverages in the U.S. population using brand-specific versus category-specific caffeine values

Recent reports on caffeine intakes in the United States have highlighted the importance of obtaining accurate and valid measures of caffeine exposure. The objective of this study is to compare two methods of assigning caffeine values to beverages: brand-specific values versus an aggregate single value representing a broader range of products within a beverage category (i.e., category-specific). The two methods yielded some small, but statistically significant differences in the estimation of caffeine intake from coffee, tea, and carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) for all ages combined and within several of the adult age groups (i.e., 35–49, 50–64, and ≥65 years). These differences, while small, suggest that detailed brand-specific data, particularly for CSDs, commercially pre-packaged or bottled teas, coffee, and specialty coffee drinks, provide more accurate estimates of caffeine exposure for some age groups. Despite these differences, these data provide some assurance that studies using a single aggregate caffeine value provide reasonable measures of caffeine exposure, particularly for studies conducted over a decade ago when there were fewer caffeinated products and brand-specific data available. As the caffeinated beverage marketplace continues to evolve, the use of more detailed, brand-specific data will likely strengthen the assessment of caffeine exposure in the United States.

TV advertising spillovers and demand for private labels: the case of carbonated soft drinks

The expansion of private labels, or store brands, has transformed consumer choice sets and competition in retail markets, prompting manufacturers to fight back with renewed pricing and product and promotion strategies to forestall further private label expansion. This article examines the spillover effects of television advertising on brand-level consumer demand for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), including private labels, using a random coefficients logit model with household purchasing and advertising viewing Nielsen data. As in previous work, we find that although brand spillover effects significantly increase demand for CSD brands in the same company and undermine demand facing other manufacturers’ CSD brands, surprisingly, there are positive spillover effects on the demand for private label brands. This indicates that brand advertising is persuasive with respect to manufacturers’ brands but complementary with respect to private labels. Further results show that eliminating television advertising for CSDs would lower aggregate CSD sales as consumers migrate to other beverages, although private labels stand to gain, particularly Wal-Mart brands.

Do Brand Advertising Spillovers Matter?

ABSTRACTThis article examines the spillover effects of television brand advertising on consumer demand, using carbonated soft drinks as a case study. Spillover effects are modeled using the conventional linear and constant elasticity of substitution (CES) advertising production functions. The latter allows for imperfect substitution between brand advertising and spillovers from advertising all other brands belonging to the same company as well as relaxes the assumption of constant returns to scale. Empirical results confirm strong and positive brand advertising spillover effects across brands belonging to the same company as well as negative spillover effects from advertising by competitors. Empirical results also indicate that the CES advertising production function outperforms the linear function, providing strong support for decreasing returns to scale in advertising and imperfect substitution between brand advertising and advertising of other brands in the same company. Finally, the CES function results in significantly higher estimates of the price elasticities of demand as well as lower estimated markups. [EconLit citations L13, L66, M37].

The Incidence of a Soda Tax, in Pennies and Pounds

Controversy over public health policies targeting carbonated soft drinks has catalyzed cross-disciplinary debate. Though beverage demand is characterized by purchases from multiple categories per trip, existing research using soda data predominantly employs discrete choice models, which restrict consumers to single unit choices. This paper instead combines a multiple-choice utility function with a hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate household-level preferences across beverages. I find that households in less healthy counties (as measured by mean body mass index) consume more regular soda per capita, have stronger preferences, and are less price sensitive than households in more healthy counties, suggesting that soda tax proposals should be county-specific. Because market players possess varying degrees of market power, I also study soda tax incidence. Simulations of equilibrium prices in various tax scenarios demonstrate that the assumption of 100% pass-through to prices, ubiquitous in soda tax research, underestimates the true change in prices, further underscoring the need for a county-level approach. Calculations then reveal that most of a counterfactual tax-induced shift in consumption is due to an income effect and low cross-price elasticities, so that while city governments are unlikely to raise enough revenue to cover the healthcare costs related to soda consumption, the downstream health benefits induced by a soda tax compensate most households for the reduction in utility.

Evaluación in vitro del efecto erosivo de tres bebidas carbonatadas sobre la superficie del esmalte dental

El propósito de este estudio, in vitro, fue evaluar el efecto erosivo de tres bebidas carbonatadas sobre la superficie del esmalte dental. Se utilizaron 60 especímenes divididos en cuatro grupos de los cuales tres fueron expuestos durante un minuto a la acción de las bebidas carbonatadas,seguido por tres minutos de inmersión en saliva artificial. Este ciclo se repitió durante 20 minutos. El grupo control negativo fue inmerso en agua destilada. El efecto erosivo se evaluó mediante el método de dureza Vickers antes y después de ser sometidos a la acción de las bebidas.Al aplicar la prueba t de Student se encontró diferencia significativa (p&lt;0,05) entre los valores de microdureza inicial y final de los especimenes, siendo mayor el efecto erosivo de la bebida Kola Real®, similar a la Coca Cola®, mientras que la Inca Kola® presentó el menor efecto erosivo.

Association between soft drink consumption, oral health and some lifestyle factors in Swedish adolescents

Objective. The aim was to investigate the relationship between soft drink consumption, oral health and some lifestyle factors in Swedish adolescents. Materials and methods. A clinical dental examination and a questionnaire concerning lifestyle factors, including drinking habits, oral hygiene, dietary consumption, physical activity and screen-viewing habits were completed. Three hundred and ninety-two individuals completed the study (13–14 years, n = 195; 18–19 years, n = 197). The material was divided into high and low carbonated soft drink consumption groups, corresponding to approximately the highest and the lowest one-third of subjects in each age group. Differences between the groups were tested by the Mann-Whitney U-test and logistic regression. Results. Intake of certain dietary items, tooth brushing, sports activities, meal patterns, screen-viewing behaviors, BMI and parents born outside Sweden differed significantly between high and low consumers in one or both of the two age groups. Dental erosion (both age groups) and DMFT/DMFS (18–19 years group) were significantly higher in the high consumption groups. Logistic regression showed predictive variables for high consumption of carbonated soft drinks to be mainly gender (male), unhealthy dietary habits, lesser physical activity, higher BMI and longer time spent in front of TV/computer. Conclusion. High soft drink consumption was related to poorer oral health and an unhealthier lifestyle.

The impact of social media conversations on consumer brand choices

This paper estimates the impact of social media conversations on consumer valuation of brand characteristics and demand for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs). We formulate a random coefficient, discrete choice model of consumer demand that includes social media conversations, and estimate it matching Nielsen sales data on carbonated soft drinks to social media conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Empirical results indicate that consumers’ conversations about brands and nutritional aspects of CSDs have a significant impact on their valuation of brand characteristics and ultimately on their choices of CSDs. These findings have important implications not only for firms using social media as a strategic tool for effective brand promotion and product design but also for public health policies aimed at reducing the consumption of sugary beverages and high-calorie foods.

D-65 Clinical Case Slide - Aches and Pains

Carbonated soft drinks (CSD) contain caffeine and phosphoric acid, which have been associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) levels in women. It is essential to know if the consumption of CSDs adversely affects bone mineral density, especially in young women. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the use of the Osteoporosis Risk Factor Assessment (ORFA), the Beverage Questionnaire (BQ), the Bone-specific Physical Activity Questionnaire (BPAQ) as tools for assessing the relationship of dairy intake, CSD consumption, and physical activity with BMD in college age women. METHODS: Nineteen 18-24 year old female college students were recruited from lecture classes. Dairy intake was provided through completion of the ORFA, CSD consumption was reported using the BQ, and physical acitvity through the BPAQ. Participants also received a DXA scan of the femur neck and lumbar spine. Pearson correlations were performed to determine relationships between dairy intake, CSD consumption, and physical activity with BMD. RESULTS: A weak, negative, non-significant relationship was found between diet CSDs and all measures of BMD (femur neck: r = -.36, spine: r = -.17, p > .05) . Regular CSDs also had a weak, negative, and non-significant relationship with BMD (r = -.08, spine: r = -.21 p > .05) . Diet, caffeine free CSDs were also found to have a weak, non-significant relationship with BMD (femur neck: r = -.02, spine: r = .18, p > .05). The only signifiant relationship found was with caffeine free regular CSDs and BMD of the femur neck (r = .55, p < .05) but not with the lumbar spine (r = .25, p > .05). CONCLUSION: It is determined that the ORFA, the BQ, and the BPAQ are acceptable tools for gathering data for this study. Analysis of the data collected in this pilot study suggests that consumption of caffeine containing CSDs has no significant effect on BMD. However, further research is warrented with larger sample groups.

The Impact of Four Alternative Policies to Decrease Soda Consumption

We examine the impact of four policy options on consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) by estimating a random-coefficient discrete-choice model of demand. Policy simulations using demand estimates indicate that the impacts of banning television advertising, limiting container size, and limiting calories on total consumption would be similar—an estimated 15.40–15.75 percent reduction. However, limiting calories would have a significantly greater impact on consumption of regular CSDs (–28.89 percent) and on calories consumed from CSDs (–19.34 percent). A tax on calories was least effective in curtailing overall consumption and consumption of regular CSDs.

A method for neighborhood‐level surveillance of food purchasing

Added sugar, particularly in carbonated soft drinks (CSDs), represents a considerable proportion of caloric intake in North America. Interventions to decrease the intake of added sugar have been proposed, but monitoring their effectiveness can be difficult due to the costs and limitations of dietary surveys. We developed, assessed the accuracy of, and took an initial step toward validating an indicator of neighborhood-level purchases of CSDs using automatically captured store scanner data in Montreal, Canada, between 2008 and 2010 and census data describing neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. Our indicator predicted total monthly neighborhood sales based on historical sales and promotions and characteristics of the stores and neighborhoods. The prediction error for monthly sales in sampled stores was low (2.2%), and we demonstrated a negative association between predicted total sales and median personal income. For each $10,000 decrease in median personal income, we observed a fivefold increase in predicted monthly sales of CSDs. This indicator can be used by public health agencies to implement automated systems for neighborhood-level monitoring of an important upstream determinant of health. Future refinement of this indicator is possible to account for factors such as store catchment areas and to incorporate nutritional information about products.

Quenching Australia's thirst: A trend analysis of water‐based beverage sales from 1997 to 2011

AbstractAimTo show trends in sales of sugar‐sweetened and non‐sugar water‐based beverages in Australia over a 15‐year period.MethodsData were obtained from grocery sales surveys and adjusted to yield total market sales. Trends were examined using regression analysis both in absolute terms and per head. Home scan data were used to evaluate patterns of carbonated soft drink purchase according to income and household structure. Usage patterns by age and sex were also assessed.ResultsSales of non‐alcoholic, water‐based beverages grew at a rate of 1.7% per annum, driven largely by sales of non‐sugar varieties (4.9% per annum) with a smaller contribution from sugar‐sweetened beverages (0.3% per annum). Volume share of non‐sugar increased from 30 to 42% over the 15‐year period, while sugar sweetened showed sustained loss of share. Sales of sugar‐sweetened carbonated soft drinks fell over 15 years at a rate of 0.7% per annum, with a drop in volume share of 18%. Still water, energy and sports drinks showed persistent growth. Sugar contribution from water‐based beverages and soft drinks fell from 9.2 to 7.6 kg per person and from 8.4 to 6.2 kg per person, respectively. Soft drinks, energy drinks and sports drinks were most popular with teenagers and young adults, but not with older individuals. Low‐income households purchased less soft drinks compared to middle‐ and high‐income households.ConclusionsThe water‐based beverage category is undergoing a fundamental shift from sugar‐sweetened to non‐sugar drinks. The consequent fall in the sugar contribution from water‐based beverages, and soft drinks in particular, is consistent with public health objectives.