There’s potentially good news in regards to teens and their soda consumption. In 2024, 24 percent of teens in the U.S. drank at least one soda on a daily basis, which was down from 29 percent the previous year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected data on 11,429 high school students from across the country. Each of them filled out a questionnaire.
When other sweetened drinks were considered, the teens who drank at least one of those drinks each day was raised to more than 60 percent. However, even with that sharp rise when considering all sweetened drinks, the number is down from 1999, when it was more than 75 percent.
Now for the potentially bad news…
Since awareness of the health dangers of sweetened drinks has risen over the years, some experts are concerned that teens’ knowledge may have skewed the results, since they could have been deceptive in their answers. Or I say, maybe the movement of removing soda from schools is working.
That concern aside, here are some of the findings from the CDC report:
- Teen girls drink less sugary drinks than their male counterparts
- 16 percent say they drink a sweetened sports drink once a day (which seems low when you consider than tremendous growth in the sports and energy drink industry)
- 17 percent of teens drink a sweetened tea, flavored milk, or some other kind of sweetened drink once a day
It’s no coincidence that sugary beverage consumption doubled between 1977 and 2001, and so did the obesity rate. According to a 2002 report, soda consumption in the U.S. was the highest in the world (216 liters), nearly doubling the next country (Ireland – 126 liters).
(via: Medical News Today)