Need for Specific Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Lessons for Fourth- and Fifth-Graders Article Summary:
Everybody knows that kids love their soda and sugar-sweetened beverages, but how long can this country go until we start seeing the devastating effects of those extra calories? Well, we already have. Childhood obesity is climbing at a drastic rate, and we have to do something now before it’s too late. Luckily, many researchers have started doing studies on causes for childhood obesity, and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is one of them! An example of a study related to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was conducted by The University of Arizona Nutrition Network, targeting the need for sugar-sweetened beverage in-school education for fourth and fifth grade students, specifically in low-income areas. The main objective of this study was to prove that SSB (sugar-sweetened beverages) does not only lead to obesity, but if kids were more educated in schools on making better drink choices, it would drastically decrease their consumption of those beverages.
The goals of this study were to prove through descriptive statistics, surveys, and strict protocols, that giving kids in-school education about SSB and making good drink choices, it would lead to a decrease in consumption of those beverages, and ultimately lead to lower childhood obesity rates and a healthier America. In America today, 15% of children ages 6-11 are considered obese, with an additional 30% of children right behind them, close to obesity. America has doubled their consumption of SSB from 1970’s to now, which correlates to the drastic increase in obesity rates, especially among children. In the American diet, 36% of added sugars come straight from soda. It’s no surprise that soda contains crazy amounts of sugar and calories; increase in soda consumption = increase in caloric consumption = increase in obesity rates. As America increases their obesity and type two diabetes rates, so should their knowledge of the consequences of these drinking behaviors.
UANN started off by taking a sample of 536 elementary school fourth and fifth grade classrooms that were SNAP-Ed eligible. They then used the TTT Model (Train-The-Trainer Model) to appropriately design a nutritional education plan for teachers, staff, and students. The TTT model aided the teachers and educators with state-approved lessons to be able to properly instruct their students, and incorporate nutrition in many school subjects. The TTT model was then tailored for the specific schools interests and compliance with the program. Monthly information and lesson plans were given to the schools to keep learning fun and fresh. Educators were then made to submit monthly logs of time committed and EARS topics covered. After the schools completed 1 year of this program, the classrooms were put into a randomization model to yield 9% for the final survey. Adapted from the School Physical Activity and Nutrition survey, and the Day in the Life Questionnaire, questions for two surveys (fall/spring) were put together to age-appropriately and reliably assess the current lifestyle of the fourth and fifth graders in the study. Surveys were given out to these fourth and fifth grade students much like a SAT test would be administered. The results of this survey would be used as the “before and after” information for the study.
Through descriptive statistics of student demography and beverage consumption, the T tests were compared and evaluated for change in averages from fall to spring; they weren’t evaluated individually because the surveys were anonymous. Also, only surveys that were 90% or more completed were used in the final comparison. In the end, 98% of the students took both the fall and spring surveys, and completed more then 90%. Regression models were then used to evaluate the correlation of change in consumption of SSB. Results of this study were not surprising. Between fall and spring SSB increased about 5%, milk consumption increased about .4%, and water consumption decreased about 2%. Oddly, SSB actually went up when the weather got warmer, and milk and water either stayed at the same rate or decreased slightly. None of the results had a drastic change from fall to spring.
The final conclusion of the study concludes that beverage-specific education needs to be put in place in elementary schools to help kids make better drink choices especially when the weather gets warmer.
This was a very solid study, but still had room for improvement. Two factors that could have been improved to produce a more realistic and true definition of the SSB problem America has, is getting a larger sample size and increasing the age range to get a better variety and more diverse sample. Also, the survey given out in the fall and spring included questions that made kids pick from 100% fruit juice and other options, so it was hard for kids of fourth and fifth grade to know what 100% fruit juice was; so survey clarity is another improvement needed. In future studies of UANN, they are taking environmental factors more into account since that is where most of the kids are consuming their SSB. Overall, by doing studies such as this one, it will hopefully deter America from going down a sugary-sweet road to obesity.
2 Referenced Articles:
Girls’ Early Sweetened Carbonated Beverage Intake Predicts Different Patterns of Beverage and Nutrient Intake across Childhood and Adolescence
This article was referenced because it pertains to the consumption of SSB of children, specifically girls. Also, it talks about the health effects that drinking soda at a young age can have on your future health. In the article in which this was referenced, it talks about when children consume SSB it displaces nutritious drinks such as milk and water. Comparing that to this article, Harnack and colleagues, through interpreting the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes, prove that when kids consume SSB they consume less milk and fruit juice. Then because of the decrease consumption of those drinks, they have lower nutrient intakes that pertain directly to milk and fruit juice. This article backs up and supports the need for SSB based nutrition education in fourth and fifth graders, because of the drastic health problems it could cause down the road if kids were to keep up this pace of consuming SSB at such a young age.
Reducing Calories and Added Sugars by Improving Children’s Beverage Choices
This article was referenced because it is all about changing children’s drink choices to lower caloric intake and reduce the risk for obesity. It’s not a surprising statistic that obesity has tripled from 1970 to now, but the increase in soda has also drastically increased since the 70’s as well. From 2003-2006 SSB were in the top two reasons for added sugar in children’s diets. This study is all about changing the drinking behaviors of kids so it saves their health in the future. This corresponds to the main article because it is all about how children need to be educated in making smart drinking choices, so it saves them from health related problems such as obesity.
8 Technical Terms Identified Throughout Articles:
Cohort- A group of persons sharing a particular statistical or demographic characteristic.
Randomization Model- A method based on chance alone by which study participants are assigned to a treatment group. Randomization minimizes the differences among groups by equally distributing people with particular characteristics among all the trial arms.
Descriptive Statistics- The use of statistics to describe a set of known data in a clear and concise manner, as in terms of its mean and variance, or diagrammatically.
T Tests- A statistical examination of two population means. A two-sample t-test examines whether two samples are different and is commonly used when the variances of two normal distributions are unknown and when an experiment uses a small sample size.
Consort Diagram- Flow diagram of the progress through the phases of a parallel randomized trial of two groups (that is, enrollment, intervention allocation, follow-up, and data analysis.
SNAP-Ed- SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps). It is part of the U.S. domestic hunger safety net and provides economic benefits to eligible, low-income individuals and families for food purchases. SNAP -Ed is the nutrition promotion and obesity-prevention component of SNAP.
Regression Model- A statistical process for estimating the relationships among variables. It includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables, when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables.
TTT Model- The Train-the-Trainer’s (TTT) model is based on the design of a Keys’ National/ International recognized Subject Matter Expert training and developing a highly skilled core group of trainers, who would in turn conduct workshops in their organization/district to develop highly skilled facilitators who would utilize the tools, skills and materials with their target audience (teachers, students, parents, youth workers, law enforcement, SRO’s, Emergency Management Staff, etc).
Citations:
J.W. Bea. Need for Specific Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Lessons for Fourth- and Fifth-Graders. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2015;47:36-43
L.M. Fiorito. Girls’ Early Sweetened Carbonated Beverage Intake Predicts Different Patterns of Beverage and Nutrient Intake across Childhood and Adolescence. J Amer Diet Assoc. 2010;110:543–550
R.R. Briefel. Reducing Calories and Added Sugars by Improving Children’s Beverage Choices. J Nutr Educ Diet. 2013; 113: 269-275