|
Researchers have confirmed that children who consume sweetened drinks take less milk, have a higher calorie diet, put on more weight and consume less milk - a concern because of the future risk of osteoporosis. While it seems obvious that sweetened drinks make children fat, the evidence actually backing this up is patchy and relies on less than adequate ways of working out the real intake. The other gaps in our knowledge relate to the trade-offs; when a child is taking a fruit drink or lemonade, what nutrients are being missed? A group of American researchers decided to fix up some of the possible errors by measuring intake in an environment where the food could be controlled and observed more closely: a summer camp. Children were offered a range of drinks including milk and their food intake measured carefully. The findings confirmed what everyone suspected, namely children consuming sweetened drinks took less milk, had a higher calorie diet - up to about 250 calories per day, put on more weight and particularly in girls consumed less milk. Which is a concern because of future risk of osteoporosis. Interestingly the amount of sweetened drink didn't affect the food consumption one way or other. The message then for parents, schools and marketing regulators, is to reduce the availability of such drinks to children. Mind you - that's easier said than done. You can't spend your life at camp.
|
