Children and teens consumed almost 23% more sugary drinks in 2018 compared to 1990as found by a global analysis of the eating habits of young people from 185 countries.

The study was based on data from Global Nutrition Database to identify trends in sugary drink intake among children and young people aged three to 19 from 1990 to 2018. Sugary drinks were defined as all drinks with added sugars and at least 50 calories per 237g serving. This includes soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sugary fruit drinks. Excluded from the research were 100% fruit juices, soft drinks with artificial sweeteners but without calories and milks with sugar.

According to research published in the journal “The BMJ”, teenagers and urban dwellers had a higher rate of consumption. Children and adolescents were also found to have almost twice the total intake of adults.

Young people’s consumption of sugary drinks varies by region of the world, with a global average of 3.6 servings per week. The range was from 1.3 servings per week in southern Asia to 9.1 servings in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Children and adolescents in 56 countries, representing 238 million young people or 10% of the world’s youth population, they consumed an average of seven or more servings per week. Among the countries with the highest intake of sugary drinks by children and youth in 2018 were Mexico (10.1 servings per week), Uganda (6.9), Pakistan (6.4), South Africa (6 ,2) and the USA (6.2). Looking at trends from 1990 to 2018, the region with the largest increase in consumption among young people was sub-Saharan Africa, where average weekly servings increased by 106%, or 2.17 servings per week.

“Sugar-sweetened beverages increase body weight and obesity risk, so even though children don’t often develop diabetes or heart disease when they’re young, they can have significant effects later in life,” says the study’s first author, Laura Lara- Castor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington.

The authors acknowledge some limitations to the study, such as the limited availability of data particularly for lower-income countries in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and the potential for under- or over-reporting of data by participants.