Beverage Consumption in Children with Diabetes Mellitus

Although high sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) intake in children is strongly correlated to adverse health consequences, the relationship between weekend and weekday beverage consumption lacks sufficient research. Specifically, SSB intake patterns in children with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) have not been thoroughly explored. Thus, the goal of this research was to examine the type and frequency of SSBs consumed by children on weekdays versus the weekends. Data were gathered from Dr. Suzanne Bennett-Johnson's Diabetes Adherence grant using children that were undergoing treatment at a diabetes clinic either in Gainesville or Tallahassee, Florida. After voiding certain entries, the final study population consisted of 67 children with Type 1 DM age 6-13 (8.7 ± 1.9); of those, 22 participants consumed beverages and their intake was examined. Diet records were output from Nutrition Data Systems for Research (NDSR) and input into Microsoft Excel where two-sample T-tests were utilized. Our results showed that when fruit beverages and regular sodas were combined into one category, children drank more on the weekday than on the weekend (P=0.021). Upon isolation, fruit drinks were overwhelmingly consumed more often (P=0.028) on the weekdays than on the weekends, while soda consumption variances were insignificant (P=0.445). Age or sex did not have a significant impact on servings of beverages, although there were correlations between race and intake. Though dietary intake is influenced by many factors, our findings suggest that attention needs to be placed on educating children, especially those with Type 1 DM, and their families about beverage choice.