Guidelines for children's sugar sweetened beverage intake levels needed

BACKGROUND: Obesity affects approximately 10% of US children ≤ 5 years'. One recommended community strategy for preventing obesity is discouraging sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics has set guidelines for 100% fruit juice (FJ) intake, guidelines for SSB consumption are less clear. One editorial recommends < 1 SSB weekly for children; and a published letter encourages health care providers to "advise against soft drinks and other sweet drinks for infants of any age." The purposes of this study were to explore the relationship between parental SSB knowledge and children's SSB intake, and to learn how parents would respond to the recommendation for children to avoid sweetened beverages. METHODS: Parents (n=75) of children ≤ 5 years from WIC and the university child care center completed surveys assessing children's SSB intake and parental SSB knowledge. A subset of parents participated in 4 focus group interviews to elaborate on survey findings. RESULTS: Survey findings suggested parents knew what beverages contain sugar. However, during interviews, some parents referred to FJ and some sugar-free beverages as SSBs, whereas some high-sugar fruit punches were named as healthier SSBs. Parents thought recommendations to avoid SSBs were unrealistic and some believed up to 1-2 SSBs daily were acceptable. Parents suggested they needed to know how much sugar beverages contain relative to the amount that is acceptable for their children. DISCUSSION: Results suggest that parents have misperceptions about SSBs. Clear, well-formulated, acceptable guidelines for SSBs and educational messages are needed from health authorities.