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Whether it's coffee, milk or sugary drinks, we all have our favorite drinks. Liquids are a substantial percentage of the calories we eat daily, but overall information about their intake is limited. The researchers wanted to establish a global baseline and see what different demographic data consume in different countries.
"These preliminary data from the global food database project can help inform nutritional transitions over time, the impacts of these beverages on global health, and a targeted food policy aimed at improving nutrition." diet and health, "said Laura Lara-Castor, senior author of the student study at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Lara-Castor will present the results of the research at Nutrition 2019, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, which was held from June 8 to 11, 2019 in Baltimore.
Some results were quite intuitive. For example, milk consumption was highest in Northern Europe – high-income areas in which the dairy has always played an important role in the diet and where a large percentage of the population is not lactose intolerant. . Juice consumption was highest in Latin America, particularly in Colombia (where adults drink an average of 1.4 cups a day) and in the Dominican Republic (1.3 cups a day).
Other things, however, left more room for discussion.
The researchers were particularly interested in a particular drink set, which is increasingly considered to be dangerous to health: sugary drinks. Curiously, Latin America also recorded the highest consumption of this type of drink: an average Mexican adult drinks 2.5 cups a day, followed by Suriname and Jamaica at 1.8 cups a day. The lowest consumption was registered in China, Indonesia and Burkina Faso.
"The consumption of sugary drinks and fruit juices was particularly high in Latin America, where sugary and fruit drinks, both commercial and homemade, are widely consumed," said Lara-Castor.
Mexico is no stranger to its sweet problem. The country has extremely high obesity rates (more than 70% of the population is overweight or obese), and much of it is due to sugar. More than 70% of the sugar added to the diet comes from sugary drinks, Coca-Cola being particularly popular. Mexico has taken steps to reduce its reliance on sweetened beverages by adding a tax on sugar. The tax seems to work, causing a 5.5% drop the first year after its introduction, followed by a 9.7% drop in the second year. Other parts of the world are also trying to tackle this problem, with several cities and countries applying sugar taxes yielding remarkable results.
Establishing this global baseline is important to see how beverage consumption is changing over the years, especially when it comes to sweet drinks, where the policy can have a significant impact about our health. This information can help decision-makers and, of course, consumers make better decisions every day.
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