• A population-based study spanning children and adolescents across 185 countries was recently published in the British Medical Journal.

• The study analyzed the trends in the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) among them from 1990 to 2018.

• The study found that the intake of SSBs in the target population increased by almost 23%.

• The increase was heterogeneously distributed globally, with the highest amount in Latin America and the Caribbean (9.1 servings/week) and the highest in Africa (106%).

• The factors related to increased intake were:

1. Older children (vs younger children)

2. Urban areas (vs rural areas)

3. Parents with higher education (vs lower education)

• These trends parallel those of obesity in these populations, thus possibly implicating the role of SSBs in increasing levels of obesity among children and adolescents.

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