Sweet Lies

Recommendations from the Experts

Medical experts agree that sweetened fruit drinks and other sugary beverages are NOT recommended for children.¹,^{2, 3, 4}

• The drinks parents and caregivers choose for their children can have a lasting impact.
  • Beverages make up a large portion of a child’s calorie and nutrition intake.
  • Consuming sweetened fruit drinks can lead to early weight gain and contribute to a lifetime of diet-related diseases, including diabetes.^1,2,3

• Pediatricians recommend children drink plain water before, during, and after physical activity.
  • Sports drinks are generally unnecessary for children engaged in routine or play-based physical activity.³

Source: Rethink Your Drink: Amount of Sugar and Calories in Common Drinks, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/drinks.html

Spot the Added Sugars

The Beverage Industry tries to hide the sugar in their products but here’s how you can find them.

Added sugars in products  may be hiding under different names. Check the ingredient list for these common sugars:

Common sugary beverages include:

• Fruit drinks and fruit-flavored drinks (fruit punch, juice drinks, lemonade)
• Soda and soft drinks
• Sports drinks and energy drinks
• Sweetened flavored waters
• Sweetened coffee or tea beverages

Spread the Word

Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Facts about Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Consumption
• Facts about Added Sugars
• Data and Research on Water Consumption – During 2015–2018 (NHANES), US children and adolescents drank an average of 23 ounces of plain water daily.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• Added Sugars
• Read the Label – These tools can be used by kids, parents, health educators, and for community outreach.
• Nutrition Facts Label
• Juice Definition

Hawaii Department of Health

• Rethink Your Drink! – Healthy Hawaii Initiative – See a previous campaign encouraging teens to choose water instead of sugary beverages.
• Healthy by Default Certification – Learn more about the Healthy Beverages for Children law, which requires restaurants serving kid’s meals inclusive of a drink to serve healthy beverage options as the default beverage.

HealthyChildren.org

• Signs of Dehydration

World Health Organization (WHO)

• Sweetened Fruit Drink Definition

References

1. Lott M, Callahan E, Welker Duffy E, Story M, Daniels S. Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood:Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations. Consensus Statement. Durham, NC: Healthy Eating Research, 2019.(http://healthyeatingresearch.org)
2. Healthy Eating research (HER) is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RJWJF) committed to building a Culture of Health through identifying effective strategies to improve children’s nutrition and prevent childhood obesity. Focus Area: Beverages. (https://healthyeatingresearch.org/focus-areas/beverages/)
3. Energy and Sports Drinks in Children and Adolescents. Catherine M Pound, Becky Blair, and Canadian Pediatric Society, Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee, Ottawa, Ontario. Pediatric Child Health. 2017 Oct; 22(7): 406–410. Published online 2017 Oct 6. do: 10.1093/pch/pxx132. PMCID: PMC5823002 / PMID: 29491725. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5823002/)
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. National Center for Chronis Disease Prevention and Health promotion. Rethink Your Drink: Amount Of Sugar And Calories in Common Drinks, and Other Names For Added Sugars. 2022 June.(https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/drinks.html)