Discouraging Adolescent Sport Drink Consumption: Are We Winning or Losing the Game? :

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in a reaffirmed clinical report last year that sport drinks (SD) are not the preferred method of rehydration for children or teens who are physically active. Despite this, sport drinks remain on the shelves of supermarkets and health food stores and are still frequently consumed by teens despite their being higher calorie and sugar-sweetened compared to water—the latter being the preferred beverage for staying hydrated. But how frequently are sports drinks being used by children and teens?  Cordrey et al. (10.1542/peds.2017-2784) decided to look at consumption of SD in 2010 using data obtained from the national Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey and the 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey to see if the amount of SD being consumed has declined with the AAP recommendations now in the public eye.  The results are promising and show a modest reduction in SD consumption for all but teens who are obese and those who watched more than 2 hours per day of television.  Otherwise, the study does show reductions in sport drink consumption in all age groups, race/ethnicity categories and at all levels of physical activity.  Do you talk with you patients about not using SD for routine hydration? If you tackle the information in this study, you’ll be sure to touch down with some great information to share with your patients and families—and hopefully make these statistics look even better in five years when SD trends are again put up on the nutritional health score board.