Did you know that your drink maybe packed with sugar?
Childhood obesity is a nationwide epidemic throughout the United States. While there are many leading factors when it comes to what causes Childhood obesity one of the largest causes is from the consumption of sugary drinks. According to the CDC, “80% of youth consume sugar sweetened beverages,” but what they do not mention is what exactly a sugary drink consists of, posing the question for readers of what is a sugary drink ?
For most people when the thought of sugary drinks comes to mind the though of soda and energy drinks are what constitutes as a sugar drink, however it is actually so much more. According to the National Cancer Center sugary drinks consist of fruit drinks, soda, energy drinks, sport drinks, and sweetened waters (Ogden, 5). The American Heart Association also gives a list of what is included in sugary drinks, including sweetened teas to the list as well (Go, 1). aid, Soda such as Coke, and Energy Drinks such as Monster or Red Bull. Sugary Drinks are the largest source of added sugars in a youth’s diet and also the main source of calorie intake (Harris, 2). What this means is that when a child drinks a soda they are taking in a lot of calories at one time, often more than a body needs which then is not processed properly and becomes fat.
The largest problem that Americans face with determining if a drink is considered bad for you before even looking to see the sugar content is due to the fact that many sugary drinks have positive health claims attached to help hide the fact that they are packed with sugar (Harris, 2). One of the most common poor drink purchases are sports drinks, such as Gatorade. On the Gatorade label it has the word Performance in large print as well as the phrases thirst quencher and natural flavors. Gatorade is also know as an electrolyte sports drink, and kids see many different athletes supporting these products families are lead to assume this is good for their child. What they don’t know is that Gatorade is packed with 35 grams of sugar in a 20oz bottle. Just think 35 grams of sugar is equal to 8.75 teaspoons of sugar, and that’s a lot of sugar in a bottle.
While there is many different types of drinks out there, they can almost always be classified as sugary or not. By making people more aware of what is bad for children, families will be able to make more informed choices when shopping for beverages and hopefully that will help with the childhood obesity epidemic that sweeps our country.
Work Cited
“Childhood Obesity Causes & Consequences.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 June 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
Go, A. S., D. Mozaffarian, and V. L. Roger. “Sugar-sweetened beverages initiatives can help fight childhood obesity.” circulation 127 (2013): e6-e245.
Harris, Jennifer L., et al. “Evaluating sugary drink nutrition and marketing to youth.” New Haven, CT: Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (2011).
Ogden, Cynthia L., et al. Consumption of sugar drinks in the United States, 2005-2008. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 2011.
Sugary Drinks and Childhood Obesity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(4):400. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.16
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