Drink Choices Research Articles

The effects of low-fat skim chocolate milk on urinary hydration indices in a sample of Division 1-AA cross country runners during off-season training sessions

Methods Urine samples were collected from nine cross country runners twice a week (on the intense interval training days each week) for six weeks pre and post practice sessions. Each week participants consumed one of the three rehydration drinks. Participants served as their own control and drink choice was randomized in a cross over design across the three drinks. Urine was tested at four different times on each of the experimental days; (1) before practice (PRE), (2) immediately after practice (IPE), (3) 60 minutes after practice (RECV), (4) and a midnight sample (PST). Four urine indexes were examined on each of the experimental days to assess the difference in hydration status using the three experimental drinks: 1) Urine osmolality1 (Uosm), 2) specific gravity2 (Usg), 3) volume of urine output3 (Uo), and 4) urine color4 (Ucol).

Bismuth Revisited: an Effective Way to Prevent Travelers- Diarrhea

J Travel Med 2004; 11:239–242. Approximately 35 million people travel from the rich world to developing countries annually.1 Of these, 20% to 50% will develop travelers’ diarrhea (TD), defined as the passage (during or up to 10 days after travel) of two or more watery or unformed stools over a 24-h period, or the passage of any number of stools when associated with fever, vomiting, or abdominal cramps.2 The mean duration of TD is only 3.6 0.1 days,2 and severe complications are rare.The impact of TD,however, is considerable, since it causes significant discomfort and loss of leisure time. Among healthy people, children and young adults are at increased risk.3,4 Young adults aged 20 to 29 years are thought to be at increased risk due to higher food consumption, riskier food and drink choices,or less prior exposure to etiologic agents.5 The most common causes of TD are bacteria, including enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. In 10% to 40% of cases no pathogen is isolated.5 To avoid TD,travelers should take sensible food and water precautions, such as avoiding untreated water and ice cubes, raw fruits and vegetables, unpasteurized milk and undercooked meat.6 Chemoprophylactic agents include bismuth subsalicylate, probiotics and antibiotics.There is evidence for the usefulness of probiotics to treat certain conditions.7 Their use to prevent TD, however, is rare and the value of this approach is uncertain. Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed for the prevention of TD. Fluoroquinolones, trimethoprim– sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) and tetracyclines are all effective in preventing a significant proportion of cases. Side effects, cost and bacterial resistance, however, are significant concerns.Fluoroquinolones including ciprofloxacin, for example, are highly effective in preventing TD.8 They cover a wide range of species of bacteria, but resistance of Campylobacter spp.and E.coli is already emerging in many parts of the world.9,10 Side effects are common and include nausea, vomiting, rash, headache, dizziness and, less commonly, serious cardiac arrythmias.11 A 2-week course of ciprofloxacin (500 mg q.d.) costs a fairly substantial $70 to $80.12 TMP-SMX and tetracyclines also have common side effects but are considerably less expensive. It is important to keep in mind that, because antibiotics are normally available only by prescription, the cost of a doctor’s visit contributes to the overall cost of treatment.Overall, the Centers for Disease Control have concluded that the benefits of prophylactic antibiotic treatment are outweighed by the drawbacks, and do not recommend such treatment to prevent TD.13 Bismuth subsalicylate is a non-antimicrobial medication and the active compound in Pepto-Bismol. It has been used for many years to prevent TD and is widely available in North America without a prescription in both liquid and tablet forms.Unfortunately, availability is limited in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. A 2-week course costs only $10 to $15.14 The purpose of this systematic review is to determine the effectiveness of bismuth subsalicylate in the prevention of TD among healthy travelers.

A Big Night Out in Melbourne: Drinking as an Enactment of Class and Gender

Alcohol is a ubiquitous substance in Western cultures but knowledge about contemporary drinking cultures and consumption contexts is relatively sparse. Examining the ways in which drink choice and drinking settings are differentiated opens up new areas for analysis and health intervention. Drinking is not simply shaped by variables such as class and gender but is an enactment and expression of these social divisions. What, where, and how a person drinks is a simultaneous enactment of class and gender. This argument is based on research of drinking practices in pubs and clubs in Melbourne, Australia. The project used a qualitative methodology which involved a series of 30 field observations in 10 licensed premises. In addition 35 patrons (15 females and 20 males) aged 18–30 were recruited from the venues and participated in qualitative interviews about their drinking practices. Understanding drinking as an expression of social location has implications for models of alcohol research and health interventions.

Drink Choice: Factors Influencing the Intention to Drink Wine

This paper explores the reasons why consumers choose wine over other alcoholic beverages, with a focus upon the beliefs held by consumers towards the behaviour of wine drinking. The research findings show that attitudes are somewhat more predictive of the intention to drink wine than perceived social pressure. Nevertheless, both attitudinal and normative elements are required to adequately explain wine consumption. Despite the fact that the issue of health figured prominently amongst the salient beliefs identified in the qualitative phase of the research, the subsequent quantitative research found that drinking wine because of its purported health benefits was not a significant attitudinal or behavioural factor. Drinking wine because it provides ‘a variety of tastes and flavours’ and because it ‘goes well with food’ was found to be significantly more important. The results suggest that efforts to actively promote awareness of the health benefits of wine drinking may have limited value.

Parental control in caries prevention of young children of Pakistani and White origin: Implications for oral health promotion—a pilot study

Objectives This study investigated the differences by ethnicity and deprivation in behavioural intent (BI), parental efficacy (PE) and health locus of control (HLOC) in relation to the adoption of oral health promoting behaviours for young children. Method The parents of a quota sample of 116 Pakistani and 95 White children were interviewed by one of two interviewers. The sample was balanced by caries prevalence (caries free and at least three actively decayed teeth) and socioeconomic background (deprived and affluent). Results In relation to ethnic variations, proportionately more Pakistani parents intended brushing their children's teeth and controlling food and drink choices between meals compared with the White parents (BI), but in practice 72 per cent found this difficult to implement compared with 56 per cent of their White peers (p<0.05) (PE). Of the Pakistani parents, 27 per cent believed they could do little to reduce the chances of their child getting tooth decay compared with 10 per cent (p<0.01) of White parents (HLOC). In relation to indicators of deprivation within each ethnic group, sweets were used as a coping strategy by 35 per cent of Pakistani parents from a deprived background and 19 per cent did not think it was worth making their child brush their teeth. Comparable figures for affluent Pakistani parents were 11 per cent (p<0.0l) and two per cent (p<0.01) respectively. Corresponding differences were not observed in the deprived versus affluent White families. Conclusions There were significant variations in the study subjects regarding behavioural intent, parental efficacy and health locus of control, in relation to (a) ethnicity and (b) deprivation among the Pakistani families. Overall, these factors place Pakistani children at increased risk of developing dental caries in their primary dentition. Future oral health promotion initiatives should take these perspectives into account.

Dental erosion and soft drinks: a qualitative assessment of knowledge, attitude and behaviour using focus groups of schoolchildren. A preliminary study.

This qualitative study was designed to record the perception by Newcastle children of the influences on their choice of drinks and their knowledge of the dental health problems caused by acidic drinks. Four focus groups, each involving 8 Newcastle schoolchildren (4 boys and 4 girls) formed the basis of the study. Two age groups, 13-14-year-olds and 8-9-year-olds, and two socio-economic groups were investigated, using state schools in Newcastle upon Tyne. A moderator guided the children to discuss their choice of drink and its dental effects amongst themselves. In total, 32 children participated in the focus groups and the results suggested that 8-9-year-olds preferred still, fruit-flavoured drinks whilst 13-14-year-olds preferred carbonated drinks. Taste was the most important influence on drink choice in all age groups. Parents and friends were more influential in younger children, whilst cost, availability and thirst were more important to older children. Younger children did not believe advertisements whilst older children thought they might work if seen enough times. Dental knowledge was confused in all age groups and only the 13-14-year-old-high socio-economic groups knew that acidic drinks were bad for the teeth. Different methods for addressing the problem of erosion were suggested by different age groups. There was very little difference between the socio-economic groups in the areas discussed. The children's knowledge of dental diseases and the effect of drinks on the teeth were confused. The factors that influence drink choice appear to change with age, rather than socio-economic status.

Effects of ‘energy’ drinks on mood and mental performance: critical methodology

Beneficial effects for mood and cognitive performance are believed to influence food and drink choice. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate a sensitive methodology for providing objective evidence of such effects. A mildly fatiguing repetitive task formed the context for assessing the potential restorative effects of caffeine-containing ‘energy’ drinks. The methodology used was designed to account for a range of theorised variations in the data, many of which are often overlooked in current research. Significant effects of the energy drinks on task performance and self-rated mood were found. These effects can be summarised with the terms ‘alerting’, ‘revitalising’, ‘awakening’ and providing mental energy, and appear to be mainly caffeine related.

Routine activities and alcohol use: constraints on outlet utilization.

Studies of consumers' use of alcohol beverage outlets have provided a basis for understanding drinking behaviors in different drinking environments. These studies have shown that drinking environments are related to both demographic and drinking pattern measures. Absent from these studies has been a theoretical basis on which to make predictions regarding drinking patterns and choices of drinking environments under the various social, economic, and environmental constraints typically confronting alcohol consumers. This study presents one such theoretical approach. The approach assumes that, in the context of individual preferences for alcohol, drinking choices are constrained by consumers' economic and time-energy budgets for consumption. All other things being equal, it is suggested that greater budgets for consumption will be related to greater alcohol use, quality of beverages purchased, amenity values of purchase locations, or all three. Because on-premise drinking entails greater economic costs, greater drinking levels will be related to lower utilization of on-premise establishments. The predictions of this approach were tested using data obtained from telephone surveys of consumers conducted in 1990 and 1991. The results showed that controlling for income, variables related to greater time-energy budgets for consumption (i.e., marital status and household composition) were related to greater consumption levels and greater utilization of on-premise establishments. Controlling for demographic measures, greater income was related to greater utilization of restaurants and increased beverage quality. Controlling for all other measures, frequencies of consumption were inversely related to consumption at on-premise establishments, reflecting the expected moderation in costs for heavier consumers on a limited alcohol budget.