Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Consumption of Soda and Other Sugar Sweetened Beverages among Two Year Old Children: Findings from a Population-Based Survey

Objectives: Consumption of soda and other sugar sweetened beverage has been associated with increased weight and dental caries in pre-school age children. We examined the risk factors for consumption of soda and other sugar sweetened beverages (SSB; including soda, fruit drinks and other sugar drinks) among two year old children.

Methods: We used data from birth certificates, the Oregon Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Surveillance Survey (PRAMS, which oversamples non-white mothers), and PRAMS-2, which re-interviews PRAMS respondents when their child is 25 months old (weighted response rate = 56.7%). Re-weighted data was used to account for the complex survey sampling design and analyses were preformed in Stata 9.0.

Results: Of the PRAMS-2 respondents, 50.8% reported that their child drank SSBs at least one day a week. 75.8% of children of Hispanic mothers and 66.1% of children of African American mothers drank SSBs at least once a week. In multivariate logistic analysis, women most likely to have two year olds who drank SSB at least once a week were more likely to be: low income (ORa 2.52, 95% CI 1.69-3.74), eat out 2 or more days/week (ORa 2.52, 95% CI 1.69-3.74), Hispanic (ORa 1.75, 95% CI 1.12-2.70) and less than 25 years old at the time of birth (ORa 2.09, 95% CI 1.35-3.25).

Conclusion: In contrast to professional recommendations that two year olds drink no sugar sweetened beverages, half of mothers reported that their children drank SSBs at least once a week. There are marked racial/ethnic disparities in SSB consumption by toddlers.