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 Sports drinks are aggressively marketed to teens to replenish fluids
or electrolytes, a message that many adolescents and their parents
mistakenly believe, researchers note in Pediatrics. Doctors
recommend water instead for hydration, and warn families to avoid
drinks with lots of calories and sugar because of an increased risk
of chronic health problems like obesity and diabetes.
For the current study, researchers examined data from nationally
representative surveys done in 2010 and 2015 with a total of 27,000
high school participants.
Overall, the proportion of teens who reported having sports drinks
at least once in the previous week rose from 56 percent in 2010 to
almost 58 percent in 2015, a slight but statistically meaningful
difference.
"It is possible that this may be because sugar-sweetened sodas are
less available in schools and teens are turning to sports drinks
instead," said senior study author Dr. Andrew Adesman of the Steven
& Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York and
Northwell Health.
"The increase in weekly consumption may also be a result of the
aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns that are often
focused on teens," Adesman said by email.
Over the same period, the proportion of teens drinking sports drinks
daily declined from slightly more than 16 percent to almost 14
percent, the study also found.
"To the extent that daily consumption is a greater concern with
respect to the total amount of unnecessary calories, the downward
trend is encouraging and it may be because teens and their parents
are increasingly recognizing that the typical teen who is physically
active or athletically engaged does not need to rehydrate with
sports drinks," Adesman added.
Daily sports drink consumption didn't decline, however, for obese
teens, and it increased among adolescents who spent more than two
hours a day watching television, the researchers found.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how any shifts in advertising or attitudes about sports drinks
might have influenced teens.
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"I do think that the marketing of these drinks as part of a
lifestyle that is not just active - but includes extreme fitness and
excellence in sports - influences teens," said Jennifer Emond, a
researcher at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in
Lebanon, New Hampshire, who wasn't involved in the study.
"It comes across as an aspirational product," Emond said by email.
Beyond the lure of advertising, sports drinks are also becoming more
popular in part because other options popular with teens are
becoming scarce in schools, said Dr. Megan Pesch, a researcher at
the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann
Arbor.
"During the last decade there has been an increase in bans on sugar
sweetened beverages (SSBs) sold in schools," Pesch, who wasn't
involved in the study, said by email.
"Even though sports drinks are in fact SSBs similar to juice and
soda, as they contain added sugars, they have not typically been
included in these bans," Pesch added. "This increase in the rate of
sports drink consumption by teens nationally indicates that they may
be replacing one type of SSB for another."
Still, parents can teach children and teens what's healthy to drink,
said Marie Bragg, a researcher at New York University School of
Medicine who wasn't involved in the study.
"Parents can help kids drink smart by teaching them to take a look
at nutrition labels or compare the amount of sugar in soda and
sports drinks (hint: they both have a lot!)," Bragg said by email.
"Parents can also make a statement with their wallets by purchasing
no-calorie beverages for their kids and encouraging tap water
consumption."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2wla93J Pediatrics, online May 7, 2018.
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