Reduction of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in Elementary School Students Using an Educational Curriculum of Beverage Sugar Content

Abstract

Introduction: Given the known association between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and poorer health, we instituted an educational curriculum to reduce student consumption of SSBs. Methods: The program included third- to fifth-grade students. A simple demonstration using teaspoons of sugar or small candies showed students the quantity of added sugar in common beverages. This amount of sugar was compared to the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association. Key principles were reinforced over a 4-month period. Anonymous beverage recall surveys were distributed to 213 students at baseline and 211 students 6 months after exposure to the curriculum. Primary endpoints included evaluation of SSB, real fruit juice (RFJ), diet soda, and water servings in the last 24 hours. Results: The proportion of children consuming 2 or more beverages daily decreased from 8.9% to 4.3% ( P = .0546) for diet soda, from 70.0% to 58.3% ( P = .0123) for SSB + RFJ, and from 60.1% to 47.4% ( P = .0087) for SSB. At baseline, students reported an average consumption of 3.5 SSB, 4.5 SSB + RFJ, 0.4 diet soda, and 3.3 water servings per day. At 6 months after exposure, the average daily beverage consumption decreased to 2.7 servings per day for SSB ( P = .014), 3.8 for SSB + RFJ ( P = .039), and 0.2 for diet soda ( P = .027). Water consumption increased from 3.3 to 3.6 servings per day ( P = .075). Discussion: Our data suggest grade school students are receptive to information about the adverse effects of SSBs on health. Adding similar educational programs to elementary school curriculum may help reduce long-term SSB consumption.